NZ to send two observers to Syria

The Minister of Defence has confirmed two New Zealand Defence Force staff are being offered to the UN Mission in Syria.

The United Nations made an urgent request last week for New Zealand and other countries to consider the immediate and temporary redeployment of UN Military Observers currently deployed with the UN Truce Supervision Organisation (UNTSO) in the Middle East to join an advance UN monitoring team of up to 30 personnel in Syria.

“New Zealand has seven NZDF staff currently deployed to UNTSO, located in Israel and Syria. The New Zealand government has decided to offer two of these to immediately join the UN efforts,” said Dr Coleman.

“The Mission is mandated by the UN. New Zealand has long expressed concern about the situation in Syria, and the deployment of Military Observers under a UN banner would give us another practical means of encouraging an end to the senseless violence in Syria,” said Dr Coleman.

“It is up to the UN to decide if, when, and how they will be deployed, within the UN mandate. The advance team will be unarmed, and will liaise with the Syrian Government and opposition forces to work towards the implementation of a full cessation of armed violence in Syria,” he said.

The UN Security Council passed a further Resolution on Saturday to create a new mission, which would deploy an additional 300 UN Military Observers.

At this stage the New Zealand government has not received a request for personnel for the expanded Mission.