A send-off for members of SAF to EU misson in Somalia

A send-off ceremony was held for 12 members of the Army of Serbia, who will in the coming days join international forces in a military operation of the European Union Naval Force Somalia — Atalanta today in the "Rastko Nemanjic" barracks in Pancevo.

Wishing a happy time of our peacekeepers, Serbian Army Chief of General Ljubisa Diković said that the strategic goal of Serbia was to join the European Union, and that the Serbian Army by executing its mission and tasks contributes to the realization of this goal.

— The team is ready , capable and determined to win — said General Diković stating that the members of the Serbian had been carefully selected and well trained . His message to peacekeepers was that if they show what they have learned and know, the risk will be minimal , despite the fact that it is an operation of medium risk.

According to the Commander of the Special Brigade, Brigadier General Ilija Todorov, members of the Serbian mission Atalanta will be hired as an autonomous team to protect ships, along with colleagues from international forces on the ship "Caroline Scan", whose mission is the protection of vessels as part of the World Food Programme and merchant ships in the area of operations. Over the next four months, they will carry out preventive and repressive actions that are designed to prevent armed robberies and maintain waterways open for safe transport.

Speaking about the importance of participation of our members in multinational operations, the chief of the Centre for Peacekeeping Operations, Colonel Milivoje Pajović said that 2013 had been a record year when it comes to the deployment of peacekeeping operation , because this year twice as many of our members have been sent than the total of the previous decade. Today's send-off rounds up the number of 226 of our peacekeepers deployed around the world in UN and EU missions.

At today's ceremony, the national flag of Serbia awarded a team leader Major Jovan Tanacković, who on this occasion expressed his belief that this autonomous team can successfully perform all tasks.

— This is the first peacekeeping mission I ma taking part in and I expect everything will be as it should. I have full confidence in those with whom we are traveling with because we spent a lot of time together during training, and I have no doubt that we as a team will fulfill all the tasks very professionally — said major Tanacković adding that the team during preparations had been trained in France and Greece.

Besides friends and family of peacekeepers, the ceremony was attended by representatives of the Ministry of Defence and the Serbian Armed Forces.