site.btaDecember 17, 2005: Bulgaria Completes Share in Peacekeeping Mission in Iraq

Twenty years ago on Wednesday, December 17, 2005, the fifth battalion of the Bulgarian Army completed its mission in Diwaniyah, Iraq, under the command of the Multinational Joint Task Force, and the battalion began redeploying to Bulgaria in accordance with a National Assembly resolution of May 5, 2005. Between 2003 and the end of 2008, Bulgaria contributed 11 contingents totalling 3,367 personnel to the international peacekeeping operation, suffering 13 casualties in the process. 

On May 29, 2003, Parliament approved Bulgaria's participation in the fourth phase of Operation Stabilization and Reconstruction in Iraq and the deployment of a Bulgarian infantry battalion and individual servicemen in Iraq, under the United States Central Command and the multinational joint forces. The resolution authorized the commitment of a Bulgarian unit of up to 500 servicemen with the requisite weapons, combat gear and ammunitions, as well as logistical and communication equipment. According to a retrospective on the war published by the Bulgarian National Radio, the first group of 145 soldiers forming the main part of the Bulgarian battalion left for Iraq on August 11, 2003. Between 2003 and 2005, Bulgaria sent five infantry battalions on six-month rotations to Iraq. The Bulgarian contingent joined the Multinational Division Center-South under Polish command, tasked with maintaining order and assisting in the restoration of civilian facilities in the Karbala area. From autumn 2004 onwards, Bulgarian troops guarded deployment bases, patrolled main supply routes in their areas of responsibility, escorted and convoyed personnel and equipment, maintained rapid reaction forces, and guarded and defended sites of particular importance. At the same time, they implemented reconstruction projects in collaboration with local authorities and organized training for newly formed units of the Iraqi security forces. 

Bulgaria's presence in Iraq was not without controversy. There was little popular support for the operation, even though it had been sanctioned by the UN Security Council. Anti-war demonstrations and petitions across Bulgaria demanded an immediate withdrawal of the Bulgarian troops from Iraq and the resignation of the government. The anti-war sentiment in the country was further compounded by several incidents. The first was an Iraqi terrorist attack on the Bulgarian military base in Karbala on December 27, 2003. The suicide bombing left five soldiers dead and 26 others seriously injured and raised questions about the human cost of Bulgaria's peacekeeping mission in Iraq. The second incident was the killing by al-Zarqawi militants of two Bulgarian truck drivers who had been abducted near Mosul on July 8, 2004. According to Rossen Vassilev, a political scientist and lecturer at Ohio State University, Bulgaria's participation in the war contributed to the fall of the coalition government Simeon II National Movement and the Movement for Rights and Freedoms at the 2005 parliamentary elections.

On May 5, 2005, the National Assembly adopted a resolution authorizing the Bulgarian battalion in Iraq to fulfill its mandate to maintain security and stability in Iraq, as set out in UN Security Council Resolution 1546, until December 31, 2005. On February 22, 2006, Parliament ratified an agreement between the governments of Bulgaria and the United States on the participation of a Bulgarian military contingent in a mission to provide security at the temporary Detention and Protection Facility for Iranian refugees in Camp Ashraf (70 km north of Baghdad).

On June 13, 2008, Parliament terminated the Camp Ashraf mission and allowed the participation of a contingent of up to 155 troops for the performance of security tasks at Camp Cropper, Baghdad, for the period between June 15 and December 31, 2008. The mandate of the Bulgarian troops in Iraq expired at the end of that deployment.

Following is the original English-language coverage by BTA of the end of the first phase of the Bulgarian participation in the international peacekeeping operation in Iraq:

"103 IRAQ - BULGARIAN TROOPS - WRAP UP Update 1

At 00:00 Hrs on Saturday 5th Bulgarian Infantry Battalion in Iraqi Multinational Forces Completes Operative Tasks

Sofia, December 17, 2005 (BTA) - At 00:00 hrs on Saturday the 5th Bulgarian Infantry Battalion completed the execution of its operative tasks, the press office of the General Staff told BTA.

An official ceremony on handing over the zone of responsibility is scheduled for 11:00 hrs, to be followed by meetings with representatives of the local authorities in the city of Diwaniyah, al-Qadissiya province.

In accordance with operative plans, the press release said, work has begun on preparation of the withdrawal of the Bulgarian contingent from Iraq.

In an interview for national Darik radio on Saturday Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ivailo Kalfin recalled this country's commitment before partners that the contingent remain during the parliamentary elections in Iraq on December 15.

According to Kalfin, the elections in Iraq showed this was a country in which democratic mechanisms already operate and in which the institutions are much more representative and could have a much more important role.

"Bulgaria will abide by its commitment for the stabilization of Iraq and its institutions, and will probably have its representatives there," the Foreign Minister said.

He added that at the moment, too, there are Bulgarian representatives in Iraq. In his words, opportunities are also being discussed for participation of Bulgarian military in the training of Iraqi military or in safeguarding missions, but these will differ from the patrol missions.

One of the variants is to participate in safeguarding a refugee camp, which is a humanitarian mission and which presupposes that our military will be unarmed, Kalfin noted.

"It is very important for Bulgaria to safeguard Bulgarian interest in the talks with the US side regarding joint military facilities and that is why these talks are being conducted, ones that I think will come to a successful outcome," the Foreign Minister pointed out. Asked about Bulgarian presence in Iraq, President Georgi Purvanov told Darik radio that the participation of the Bulgarian contingent should already have a definitely humanitarian character.

Purvanov recalled that, from he very beginning, he was reserved as regards the onset of the military conflict in Iraq, but now that country has turned into a sort of combat field against international terrorism Bulgaria should keep, in transformed form, its commitment to the international coalition.

"But how this is to be done - the best formula should be supplied by the military themselves who have to judge what our opportunities are and in dialogue with our partners and allies we should find the form in which to continue this commitment," the head of state noted.

Purvanov added that he is slightly concerned with the delay of this dialogue because that would lead to restriction in time of the actions of the military who shall have to prepare a new Bulgarian contingent for participation in Iraqi events in another place and under a different form."