Austrian Armed Forces in EUFOR
From UNPROFOR to EUFOR
UNPROFOR is based on UN Security Council Resolution 743, dated 21 February 1992 with the main tasks of - providing logistics support by air to Sarajevo, - establishing demilitarised enclaves in six areas, and - stopping all military flights over the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH).
UNPROFOR got heavily involved in the conflict and suffered great losses. At the end a NATO air operation focusing on Bosnian Serb Command, Control, and Communication (C³) structures opened the way to the Dayton/Ohio Agreement.
The Implementation Force (IFOR), which was a NATO-led multinational force, assumed responsibilities to implement the Dayton Agreement as of 20 December 1995, conducting Operation Joint Endeavour.
By reducing the strength of the Force from almost 60,000 to 31,000 troops the next NATO-led mission named Stabilisation Force (SFOR) started in December 1996. Its strength was reduced to about 12,000 troops in 2002 and to about 7,000 in 2004.
The Mission
ALTHEA is the third and largest military operation in which the European Union has ever been involved, comprising contributions of 33 coun-tries. The operation was launched on 2 December 2004 in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) following a decision of the Council of the European Union on the 12 July 2004, whereupon NATO decided to conclude the SFOR mission. Operation ALTHEA is carrying out its mission on the basis of the Berlin Plus Agreement with the support of NATO.
The legal basis of the operation is the General Framework Agreement for Peace in BiH (GFAP), initiated in Dayton and signed in Paris on 14 December 1995.
The main mission of EUFOR is - to contribute to a safe and secure environment, - to prevent the return of violence and - to assist the Office of the High Representative.
The tasks are divided into key military tasks focusing mainly on military operations, and key support tasks focusing on the support of the other organisations involved, including local authorities.
The Force Elements
The strength of the forces with its headquarters (HQ) in the Camp Butmir in Sarajevo is about 7,000 troops. The state of BiH is divided into three areas of responsibility (AOR) in which three Task Forces are operating at full capacities. The Task Forces are: - Multinational Task Force Northwest (MNTF NW) with its HQ in Banja Luka; - Multinational Task Force Southeast (MNTF SE) with its HQ in Mostar; - Multinational Task Force North (MNTF N) with its HQ in Tuzla.
The Integrated Police Unit (IPU) has its HQ in Sarajevo and covers the whole area of BiH. Reserves are provided by Over The Horizon Forces (OTHF), for which the European Union (EU) has prepared supply and C² structures.
A critical point for the force is the concept of the Liaison Observing Teams (LOT). The LOTs are spread over the whole AOR and live and operate amongst the local population. Their main task is to provide early warning of any critical development of the situation and to identify new high risk areas. They have to operate a two way communication channel and have to improve liaison between EUFOR, the local population, BiH authorities and other organisations working in their AORs. This is achieved by obtaining a clear picture of the social and economic situation and by gathering public information, focused on local attitudes and Anti-Dayton activities.
AUCON 1/2/3 SFOR/EUFOR
Austria joined IFOR as early as January 1996 by contributing a transport element of approximately 300 men (AUSLOG/IFOR). This contingent was based in Camp Beluga at Visoko. According to the decreasing demand of transport elements the contingent was reduced, and in February 2000, 54 Austrian soldiers were integrated into the logistics unit of the German contingent based in Camp Rajlovac near the City of Sarajevo. The contingent included also staff members serving in Butmir headquarters. The mission of this transport unit expired in March 2001. Only the staff members remained at HQ SFOR.
In the context of the intended takeover of the mission by the European Union the Austrian Contingent AUCON 1/SFOR was committed. This contingent comprised 135 troops and included an Infantry Coy, a Liaison Observation Team (LOT) in the AOR of MNTF NW in Banja Luka, and maintenance elements. The Infantry Coy was deployed in the context of the Multinational Specialized Unit (MSU), the predecessor of the Integrated Police Unit (IPU). Its base was in Camp Butmir in Sarajevo.
With the deployment of AUCON 2/EUFOR and the beginning of the MNTF N Operation, the contingent was augmented to almost 300 troops. This augmentation provided additional personnel to HQ and the assumption of the lead nation status for the Composite Coy, including two LOT houses and the Security Coy for the Camp Eaglebase in Tuzla.
In the course of the rotation of AUCON 2 to AUCON 3 in July 2005 the structure of the contingent was changed again. Participation in IPU was stopped and a reconnaissance company was assigned to MNTF N. The staff elements in the HQs of NATO, EUFOR and MNTF N have remained almost unchanged. The transfer of the Log Base from Camp Butmir to Camp Eagle Base brought an essential improvement for the whole contingent.
Multinational Task Force North (MNTF N)
The Multinational Task Force North consists of troops from thirteen nations, namely: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Ireland, Latvia, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Sweden and Turkey.
The strength of the Task Force amounts to 1,300 troops. Its Headquarters is located in Camp Eaglebase near the City of Tuzla. Since 1 December 2005 Austria has lead MNTF-N as the framework nation. The Base was built by the Yugoslav Army as airbase "Dubrave” in 1952. When the Yugoslav Army withdrew they destroyed all ammunition and fuel storage facilities. The result was that large parts of the camps became restricted areas because of unexploded ordnances (UXO). The fenced-in area of the base is approximately 9 km2 and the airstrip is 3.5 km long.
Headquarters is organised as a brigade group staff and can form a transferable forward command post. At the beginning of December 2005 a new streamlined structure for HQ became effective to save about 15 percent of the personnel.
Austrian officers and non-commissioned officers have important jobs in this staff. The main units are the Security Coy to guard the Camp and to provide one platoon as a quick reaction force. The Austrian contributions to this company are the deputy commander and one sentry platoon.
The Signal Coy is made available by Finland including a transferable armoured command post, which disposes of satellite communication.
Austria is the framework nation by contributing the Composite Coy. This coy is broken down into two essential areas: verification and LOT organisation. The strength of the company is about 245 troops composed of eight nations. The verification element observes and controls all stationary facilities of the local armed forces at regular intervals. Every movement of the local armed forces to locations outside their barracks and storage areas have to be announced and approved by EUFOR in advance. Another task of the verification element is the observation of the activities to disarm mines. These activities are carried out by the responsible local authorities, but only little progress is made, and several accidents have already occurred.
The LOT organisation runs 14 LOT houses, which are supplied by six nations. The crew of one LOT house consists of eight to ten experienced officers and non- commissioned officers. Austria is responsible for the LOT houses Bratunac and Vlasenica. Especially the LOT house Bratunac is of particular importance because of its nearness to Srebrenica, where the worst massacre of this war happened ten years ago.
The Force Multiplier of MNTF N is the Aviation Coy because of the long distances and the relatively small number of troops. Their tasks are liaison, reconnaissance and transport flights. The MNTF N disposes also of the only fully equipped rescue helicopter.
The reconnaissance company disposes of two unarmoured motorised reconnaissance platoons provided by Austria. They serve for the preparation of operations and the provision of information. The most important means to provide information is reconnaissance by conversation; seven local native speakers are available to do this job for the company.
With the Multinational Integrated Logistics Unit (MILU) the Task Force has a supply element to run Camp Eagle Base and to support the installed forces with transport, vitals, sanitary facilities and explosive ordnance disposal (EOD). Moreover, further integration of the national support elements (NSE) is planned in MILU to save costs as well as to reduce personnel.
The most essential element to accomplish the mission of the MNTF N is the manoeuvre battalion. The battalion consists of one battalion command post and three infantry companies. Each of them disposes of an armoured platoon. Portugal, Poland and Turkey are contributing these three companies. The framework nation for commanding this battalion changes every six months. The battalion command post is located in Camp Eagle Base (CEB) at Tuzla.
The Turkish company is situated in Camp Zenica. The Polish company had its camp in CEB. This deployment leads to a better distribution of troops in the area of responsibility (AOR), and shortens reaction time in the Eastern part of the country extremely.
Elements of the Austrian Contingent in Butmir
Austrian officers and non-commissioned officers hold jobs at EUFOR headquarters in the areas of the Claims Office, Joint Operations Centre, in J2, Media Analysis, the Mine Information Centre, Movement Control, Inspections, and the position of the Chief Legal Advisor for COMEUFOR.
EUFOR HQ is located in the same building as previously NATO HQ Sarajewo, where Austria is represented by one officer, too. The Austrian Civil Military Cooperation Team (CIMIC), the Counter Intelligence (CI) and National Intelligence Cell (NIC) are also located in Butmir.
Future Perspectives
Further deployment of EUFOR in BiH will mostly depend on how quickly the integration of state institutions, such as the constitution, the armed forces and the reform of the police can take place, and how successfully organised crime can be battled. The elections in autumn 2006 will be an essential indicator of progress made.
___________________________________ __________________________________ By: Colonel Mag. Martin Jawurek, COS MNTF N and NCC AUCON 3/EUFOR