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| OVERSEAS SECTION |

Defence Forces
Missions Overseas
UNIFIL 378
(Lebanon)
UNDOF 136
(Golan Heights)
UNTSO 12
(Middle East)
MONUSCO 4
(Congo)
MINURSO 3
(Western Sahara)
KFOR 12
(Kosovo)
BRUSSELS 12
EUTM-Mali 20
EUFOR BiH 5
(Bosnia & Herzegovina)
OSCE (Vienna) 3
UNNY (New York) 2
OP SOPHIA 57
"Every mission is unique (Mediterranean Sea)
and constantly evolving." TOTAL 644

making strategic decisions that derives from the expertise but the Defence Forces also makes important contribu-
and service experience of the Section members and which tions to missions such as KFOR in Kosovo, the EU train-
2
develops through continuous overseas deployments.” ing mission in Mali, the UN MONUSCO mission in the
3
The range of missions to which the Defence Forces cur- Democratic Republic of Congo and MINURSO in Western
4
rently contributes is very broad. Presently the Defence Sahara. The organisation also provides military represen-
Forces have 643 personnel deployed in 13 missions in 13 tation at UN HQ in NY, EU Military Staff in Brussels, in Vi-
countries throughout the world including one naval mis- enna with the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in
sion in the Mediterranean. The majority of that contribution Europe (OSCE) and the Defence Forces also interface with
is with the large troop missions of UNIFIL and UNDOF , NATO as part of the partnership arrangement that permits
1

1 Ireland has been contributing troops to the United Nations Interim Force since 1978, with the exception of a two year gap.
Following the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1978, the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) was established to supervise the
withdrawal of Israeli forces and monitor peace and security to the area along the internationally recognised border known as the ‘blue line’.
The United Nations Disengagement Observation Force (UNDOF) had an Irish contribution between August 1997 and September 1998.
Ireland’s contribution to the mission was reinstated in 2013, when the UN requested assistance following the withdrawal of several West-
ern troop contributing nations following the continuing disintegration of Syria into a state of all-out war. As for the mission itself, UNDOF
was established by UNSCR350 in 1974 following the agreed disengagement of Israeli and Syrian forces on the Golan Heights after the
ending of the Yom Kippur War.
2 In September 1997 a UNSC Resolution 1199 highlighted an impending human catastrophe in Kosovo and demanded a cease-
fire. In June 1999 Serbia agreed to the G8 Peace Principles and began to withdraw its forces. NATO ended its air strikes and KFOR, which
was authorised by UNSCR 1244, entered Kosovo. Ireland has contributed to KFOR since 1999. It is a NATO led mission, which Ireland
contributes to under the auspices of the Partnership for Peace arrangement which allows non-member States to contribute to NATO led
missions.
3 The Democratic Republic of Congo and five regional states signed the Lusaka Ceasefire Agreement in July 1999. In response
the UN Security Council passed Resolution 1279, which included the establishment of United Nations Observer Mission in Congo (MO-
NUC). Ireland has made a small but consistent contribution to this mission since 2001.
4 The deployment of MINURSO in the Western Sahara stems from a dispute over the former Spanish Sahara, situated on the
north-west African coast, between Morocco, Algeria, Mauritania and the Atlantic Ocean. Ireland has contributed to the mission since
1991.

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