In today’s Council of Ministers, the Federal Government decided to extend the Austrian Armed Forces’ previous deployments abroad and to participate in the EU training mission in Mozambique. The Austrian Armed Forces will deploy an advisor for cultural particularities in the area of operations.
The previous foreign deployments of members of the armed forces, such as the EU mission EUFOR ALTHEA in Bosnia and Herzegovina (up to 400 members of the Austrian Armed Forces), the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Mali (up to 15 people), MINUSMA for short, or the multinational peacekeeping mission in Kosovo (KFOR) with up to 600 soldiers have been extended until the end of 2022. In December 2021, an Austrian officer will take over the leadership of the EU Training Mission in Mali (EUTM MALI) for the second time. With him, up to 100 Austrian soldiers will then be deployed to advise, support and train the Malian armed forces. Defense Minister Klaudia Tanner: “Today’s decision by the Council of Ministers shows once again how committed Austria and its soldiers are to actively contributing to peace in the world. Our armed forces have been providing support abroad for more than 60 years. In doing so, it assumes a responsible role and ensures a stable international security policy. With the work and function that our soldiers perform in the field every day, they make a significant contribution to peacekeeping.”
Over 2,800 soldiers are currently deployed at home and abroad. Of these, 1,047 are on 15 missions in the service of peace. There are 175 soldiers in Austria’s three major foreign missions under the leadership of the European Union in Bosnia and Herzegovina, 273 under NATO leadership in the Kosovo mission and 180 in the UN Blue Helmet mission in Lebanon. Austria sent its first UN contingent abroad as early as 1960. Back then, 49 paramedics helped to provide medical care to the population in Congo. Starting in 1974, over 27,000 Austrian blue helmets were deployed to the Golan Heights in the UNDOF mission (United Nations Disengagement Observer Force) until 2013 and over 17,000 blue helmets in the UN mission in Cyprus until 2001. In the longest-running foreign mission in which Austria has been involved to date, the UN military observer mission UNTSO (United Nations Truce Supervision Organization) to monitor the ceasefire agreement in the Middle East, a total of over 300 Austrian observer officers have been observing to date. In the Balkans, more than 23,000 soldiers have ensured security and stability in Kosovo since 1999 under the NATO command of the Kosovo Force (KFOR). In Bosnia and Herzegovina, over 14,000 Austrians have served in the EU peacekeeping force since 1995 – continuously under Austrian commanders since 2002.
