Estonia not to renew mission in Iraq

Jan 22, 2009
TBT Staff in cooperation with BNS

TALLINN – The Estonian Defense Ministry has announced that it will not send another infantry unit to Iraq. Estonia will maintain three staff officers in the country as part of the NATO training mission.

Defense Minister Jaak Aaviksoo told a government meeting on Thursday that one of the reasons for the discontinuation of the mission is that Estonia failed to reach agreement with the Iraqi government on the accord concerning the status of the troops. The next Estonian infantry unit, ESTPLA-18, will therefore not be deployed in Iraq.

Aaviksoo said there were three reasons why the mission in its present form was ended. The first is the stabilization in the security situation in Iraq.

"The second is that according to the Riigikogu [Estonian parliament] mandate, concluding an agreement on the legal status of our soldiers was a prerequisite for the continuation of Estonia in Iraq, on which it is not possible in the light of the decision by the Iraqi parliament to reach an agreement satisfying both sides," said the minister.

The third reason is that the Iraqi government has clearly expressed the wish to continue bilateral defense cooperation in a non-combat form.

Defense cooperation between Estonia and Iraq will continue in other forms in accordance with a bilateral agreement that is now being drafted.

The previous Estonian combat unit, the 34-strong ESTPLA-17, returned from Iraq shortly before Christmas. ESTPLA-18 is manned and has been in readiness for deployment.

The Estonian defense forces have been taking part in the mission in Iraqsince June 2003.

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