FOLLOWING the end of its military operations in Iraq, Bulgaria appears poised to deploy military personnel on a non-combatant humanitarian mission at a refugee camp north of Baghdad.

According to a December 18 statement by the Defence Ministry, the 400-member military contingent would return to Bulgaria by December 31, the date set by Parliament for the end of Bulgaria’s Iraq mission.

The withdrawal had been scheduled to take place earlier, but was delayed so that Bulgarian military personnel could assist in providing security during the elections held in Iraq on December 15.

Bulgarian involvement in the US-led mission cost the lives of 13 soldiers. Six Bulgarian civilians, including those murdered by hostage-takers, have died in post-Saddam Iraq.

According to the Defence Ministry statement, Bulgarian military personnel had helped many Iraqis in the country’s reconstruction process.

They helped in the rebuilding of schools, and in the setting up of water supplies, electricity facilities and other infrastructural projects.

In the past two years, Bulgaria’s military completed 175 projects, worth more than $5 million, in Iraq. During the fifth round of deployment, Bulgarian instructors spent more than 500 hours training Iraqi troops, carried out more than 500 patrols and 227 escorts, and provided security for civilians and for Multinational Division Central South (MDCS) troops.

Speaking at a farewell ceremony at Camp Echo, MDCS officer commanding Major-General Piotr Czerwinski said that the commitment shown by Bulgarian military personnel had contributed to the success of the division.

The Bulgarian battalion handed over its duties to an Iraqi unit, the Defence Ministry said.

Opinion polls before and during the Bulgarian deployment showed that most Bulgarians were opposed to the country’s military presence in Iraq.

Speaking in Plovdiv on December 19, opposition MP Yordan Bakalov, of the centre-right Union of Democratic Forces, called for a discussion on the benefits for Bulgaria from the presence of its troops in Iraq.

Bakalov said that this discussion should be initiated by President Georgi Purvanov, who as head of state is also Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces, by convening the President’s council on national security.

According to media reports, Bulgaria is to send a 120-member contingent to guard the Ashraf refugee camp, 70 km north of Baghdad.