Ceremony to mark Kosovo departure

A ceremony will be held in Kosovo this afternoon to mark the departure of almost 200 Irish troops, marking the end of more than a decade of Defence Forces involvement in the country.

The 41st Infantry Group will be formally stood down from Kfor, the Nato-led, UN-mandated mission to provide security in the ex-Yugoslav province, in a special ceremony at Camp Clarke in Pristina this afternoon.

The main body of troops are then set to fly home next week, reducing the Irish contingent from 240 to just 50.

The withdrawal comes after the Government’s decision last December to reduce the amount of staff serving with Kfor.

A further decrease is planned for October which will leave a small number of personnel remaining in the once war-torn region.

Since their initial deployment in 1999, the Defence Forces have provided more than 3,500 individual tours of duty, with 22 unit deployments.

On St Patrick’s Day, 2004, Irish troops were praised after helping bring serious rioting under control in the village of Caglavica, about 3km outside Pristina.

The Defence Forces originally deployed to Kosovo in 1999 with a transport and logistics company.

Theeir mission was to provide equipment and transport to military units in Kfor and to humanitarian organisations working with the UN.

In 2007 and 2008, the Defence Forces were appointed as the lead nation in the Multi-National Task Force and provided the commander and ancillary staff for that year. The commander was Brigadier General Gerry Hegarty, whose command extended to some 1,700 troops from six countries.

he Special Representative of the Secretary General (SRSG) to Kosovo, Peter Feith, praised the Irish contribution at a conference in the Institute of International and European Affairs in Dublin on Tuesday:

“A word of gratitude for the enormous contribution made by the men and women of Ireland for Kosovo’s growth and European perspective," he said. "On  April 20th, 220 Irish soldiers will leave their base in Pristina to return home. They have assumed infantry duties at mission headquarters, in areas as diverse as patrolling and intelligence gathering, and in helping build so many areas of civil society. They will be deeply missed for their outstanding professionalism and I commend them today for their brilliant work and dedication.”

The 58 vehicles and 35 ISO sea containers will be moved on 300km by road from Kosovo through Macedonia to the port city of Thessalonica in Greece, from where they will be shipped home.