[wzslider]By Harriet Crawford
A company of the Irish Guards left Bosnia and Herzegovina last week to high praise. Britain’s Defence Attaché, Lieutenant Colonel Rob Tomlinson MBE, said on Friday 10th May that the “professional young infantrymen, some of them battle-hardened”, are “a well-led unit, well-disciplined and that they did a great job”.
The Irish Guards have been taking part in training exercises in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), the first British Army deployment there since the UK withdrew from the permanent European Union-led peacekeepers (EUFOR) in 2007.
The recent exercise, ‘Quick Response 2013’, followed a UK Government commitment in March 2012 to contribute to EUFOR’s Immediate Reserve Forces. Eighty-five members of the Irish Guards took part.
EUFOR took over peacekeeping from NATO in 2004 and carries out the military tasks outlined in the Dayton Peace Accords that brought the three-year war to a close in 1995. The British Army pulled out its entire contingent of 600 troops from the permanent EUFOR peacekeeping mission after 15 years of helping to keep the peace in the former Yugoslav Republic. Although the British army has “reduced its footprint in Bosnia… we still take our role seriously”, British EUFOR spokesman, Lieutenant Commander Gareth Jones explained.
The Irish Guards’ used their experience, mostly garnered in Afghanistan, to help train the Bosnian Armed Forces. They also formed part of a multinational battalion, including Hungarian, Turkish and Austrian troops, working in a complicated fictitious scenario, involving crowd control, medical evacuation by helicopter and mine clearance. This demonstrated the company’s ability for rapid deployment should the security situation in BiH deteriorate.
British military sources expressed concern that if the country is not contained within NATO and the EU in the next 10 years, then the tensions that are still simmering away – not helped by “atrocious” political leadership – will erupt into serious violence once more. “There remains a risk that political challenges might increase tensions and spill over to the security situation”, Minister of State for the Foreign Office, David Lidington MP, recognised in March of this year.
Britain’s links to the region are strong, as the unveiling of a memorial to commemorate 59 British soldiers killed during the Balkan war served to remind those present [on 7th May]. A wreath was laid on the memorial, in the garden of the British Ambassador’s Residence in Sarajevo, by the youngest of the Irish Guards present, Guardsman Spence, aged 18.
Senior figures working in the region believe that this kind of joint work with other armed forces will comprise a greater share of the British Army’s focus, post-Afghanistan. Future scenarios are likely to require companies to operate more self-sufficiently, deploying with everything they need – their own vehicles, food and water. Company Commander, Acting Major Tom Oakley said: “I would imagine small deployments like this will be the future of the army.” Furthermore – “as battalions come off the line [in Afghanistan], opportunities like this will be sought after… they’re a great training opportunity, with a multinational environment, different country and different training areas”.
Lt. Col. Tomlinson added: “It’s not Afghanistan, but it’s also not Salisbury Plain”, and because of the live risk from land mines, “it’s not benign, but it is a training area rather than a war zone”.
