The Minister for Defence, Mr Andrews, started a three-day visit to Irish troops serving in Sarajevo yesterday. He will visit troops serving with SFOR and personnel serving with the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and the EC Monitor Mission to the former Yugoslavia (ECMM). He will be accompanied by the Chief-of-Staff of the Defence Forces, Lieut Gen Gerry McMahon. He will also visit gardai serving with the United Nations International Police Task Force.
Mr Andrews said Irish participation in SFOR "responds to the foreign policy priority of staying in the mainstream of peacekeeping at a time when the UN is increasingly turning to regional solutions for peacekeeping".
