HUNGARY REJECTS IRAQ TROOP EXTENSION

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) -- The Hungarian parliament on Monday rejected a government proposal to extend the stay of 300 non-combat troops in Iraq by three months until March 31, 2005.

The Socialist-led government's plan to extend the mission of the transport contingent serving since mid-2003 in Hillah, south of Baghdad, failed after deputies of the center-right opposition refused to back it.

The proposal to keep troops in Iraq beyond the end of this year needed to be approved by two-thirds of the 386 deputies, but only 191 voted in favor and 159 against. Thirty-six deputies were either absent or did not vote.

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Hungarian Parliament Prepares To Recall Troops from Iraq

Hungarian Parliament Prepares To Recall Troops from Iraq
By ZOLTAN SIMON, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, BUDAPEST

The Hungarian parliament seemed set Nov. 15 to recall the country’s 300 troops from Iraq by year’s end as opposition parties have vowed to block a government bid to extend their mandate to March 2005.

Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany earlier this month said the government planned to withdraw its soldiers from Iraq, but wanted to do so three months after their mandate expires Dec. 31 in order to see through the Iraqi elections planned for January.

But his Socialist-Liberal coalition lacks a two-thirds majority needed in the legislature to change the mandate and the country’s two conservative opposition parties have said they would vote against any such step.

The Iraqi mission has been unpopular in Hungary and public opinion is strongly in favor of a quick withdrawal.

Some 54 percent of Hungarians want the soldiers to return home before year-end, while only 19 percent are in favor of them staying through the Iraqi elections, according to the results of a Median poll published in Nepszabadsag daily Nov. 15.

Gyurcsany, meanwhile, has called a troop pullout prior to the Iraqi elections "irresponsible politics."

"We must not flee from Iraq but come back with respect," Gyurcsany said in a radio interview last week.

"In order to do this we must stay through the democratic elections which is the most important condition in the establishment of a democratic order.

"To come home before this is irresponsible politics," he added.

A deputy of the main conservative opposition Fidesz party, Istvan Simicsko, however argued that Hungary has already sacrificed enough in Iraq and expressed doubt that the elections would restore order there.

"There is a lot of uncertainty in Iraq and the Iraqi elections may not establish order in the country," Simicsko told Agence France-Presse on Nov. 15.

"The Hungarian public is also overwhelmingly opposed to us staying in Iraq and political decisions must reflect the will of the people," he added. "Our mission in Iraq is over."

The Hungarian soldiers are based at Hilla, 100 kilometers (60 miles) south of Baghdad under Polish command. So far the contingent has suffered one fatality when a soldier was killed by a bomb in June.

Hungary is one of some 30 countries that contributed troops to the U.S.-led force in Iraq in March 2003. Several allies have since withdrawn, including the Dominican Republic, Honduras, Nicaragua, the Philippines and Spain.

Other coalition members, such as Poland, have announced they would begin to scale back the scope of their deployment in early 2005 ahead of an eventual withdrawal.

Hungarian Defense Minister Ferenc Juhasz has said that if Hungary, a member of NATO, opted for withdrawal it would look for other military missions abroad to which it could contribute the troops currently serving in Iraq.

The country currently has 1,000 troops taking part in international peace-keeping missions, including Afghanistan.

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