ZAGREB, Dec 12 (Hina) - Forty-four Croatian military police officers will be sent to Afghanistan as part of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in the country, the Croatian parliament decided on Thursday.
ZAGREB, Dec 12 (Hina) - Forty-four Croatian military police
officers will be sent to Afghanistan as part of the International
Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in the country, the Croatian
parliament decided on Thursday. #L#
The decision was adopted only in a second voting round, with 104
deputies voting for and 21 against, while one deputy abstained.
The adoption of the decision required a two-thirds majority or 101
votes.
Representatives of the ruling coalition, as well as the
Opposition's Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), Democratic Centre
(DC), Istrian Democratic Assembly (IDS) and some minority deputies
voted for sending military police to Afghanistan, for the first
time under arms.
The Croatian Party of Rights (HSP), the Croatian Bloc (HB), the
Social Liberals (HSLS), and the Croatian Christian-Democratic
Union (HKDU) were against the decision.
The mission of the Croatian troops in Afghanistan, which starts in
early 2003, would last six months, with the possibility of
extension by another six months. The six-month mandate will cost
Croatia three million dollars.
The final decision on sending troops on peace missions is made by
the President of the Republic.
The parliament today bound the government to send into
parliamentary procedure by the end of January 2003 a law regulating
the status, rights and obligations of participants in peace
missions in case of disease, accident or death.
Individual voting by MPs was requested by the HSP/HKDU party bench,
which insisted that Croatian soldiers not be sent to Afghanistan
because it was an unsafe, high-risk country.
(hina) rml sb