SLOVENIA RENEWS ITS COMMITMENT TO NMT-I

C O N F I D E N T I A L LJUBLJANA 000560 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/30/2017 TAGS: PREL MARR SI SUBJECT: SLOVENIA RENEWS ITS COMMITMENT TO NMT-I Classified By: CDA GShelton, E.O. 12958 reason 1.4(b, d) ¶1. (C) Slovenia has renewed its commitment to the NATO Training Mission in Iraq (NTM-I) by deploying two fresh troops to Baghdad to replace two soldiers who returned to Slovenia as scheduled. An officer who will perform logistical base operations and a non-commissioned officer who will serve as a military instructor for Iraqi soldiers arrived in the second week of August. The new contingent will remain in Iraq for 6 months. Zorica Bukinac Cimpersek of the MFA Security Policy Division told Emboff that there is no/no defined end date for Slovenia's participation in NTM-I and that the Government of Slovenia (GOS) will determine additional deployments according to future political and tactical considerations. ¶2. (C) Slovenia's participation in the NMT-I had been called into question in February when Slovenia's contribution was halved by NATO's normal force reductions, leaving just two trainers in Iraq. Although senior GOS officials had continued to say they supported efforts in Iraq, media reports quoted Slovenian Armed Forces spokesman Simon Korez in mid-May stating the two soldiers would not be replaced at the end of their tour. The Slovenian press reported the troop rotation without comment and the deployment has not drawn any public criticism in the media. Stanislav Vidovic, Head of the MFA Security Policy Division, recently acknowledged to CDA that efforts by COM and EmbOffs to encourage Slovenia's continued presence in Iraq had succeeded in loosening the logjam that had prevented movement in the GOS inter-agency debate on a renewed deployment. SHELTON