NZDF personnel depart for Iraq
NZDF personnel who will be part of the United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) will
depart for Iraq this weekend.
The team of medical and communications personnel, who will be providing technical support, is scheduled to leave from
Wellington. They will travel by civilian aircraft to Cyprus where they will transfer to a United Nations chartered
aircraft and continue on to Iraq.
UNMOVIC was established by the United Nations to replace the former UN Special Commission (UNSCOM). The UNMOVIC mandate
is to disarm Iraq of its weapons of mass destruction and to operate a system of ongoing monitoring and verification to
check Iraq’s compliance with its obligations not to reacquire weapons prohibited to it by the UN Security Council. The
NZ Government has approved, in principle, a NZDF commitment of up to ten personnel for the next two years.