Major General Florin Barbu will take over the command of EUFOR ALTHEA in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) in the last ten days of January, the National Defence Ministry (MApN) informed on Wednesday.
In order to further support the joint efforts within the operation in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), the Romanian Armed Forces have deployed, starting January 8, the "Dacian Pumas" detachment, consisting of about 100 servicemen and four IAR-330 helicopters for transportation, research and medical evacuation. With around 500 military personnel, Romania is the largest troop contributor in this theater of operations.EUFOR BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA Military Operation ALTHEA was launched in December 2004, on the basis of a UN Security Council mandate. The main objectives of the mission are to support the European Union's unified strategy for BiH, to ensure a secure and stable environment, in particular by supporting the public authorities and the combined and collective training of the armed forces of this country, MApN recalled.
EUFOR ALTHEA, which Romania will command for a period of one year, will involve more than a thousand military personnel from 24 contributing states (Albania, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Chile, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, North Macedonia, theRepublic of Moldova, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Netherlands, Switzerland, Turkey and Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Turkey and the Netherlands).According to MApN, established in April 2016, EUTM RCA provides support to the Central African authorities in the areas of strategic advice and education for the security forces of the Central African Republic. The approximately 60 Romanian military personnel participating in EUTM RCA, in cooperation with representatives of international institutions, take part in the preparation process of the host country's military, through strategic advisory activities and the planning, organization and conduct of career and military education courses for officers, non-commissioned officers and specialized personnel.
Thus, of the nine military operations and missions under the aegis of the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) of the European Union to which it contributes with troops and military technique, Romania will simultaneously exercise command of two of them.By assuming the command responsibilities of the two operational commitments of the European Union, our country reconfirms its contribution to maintaining regional and global security, the Defence Ministry conveyed.