Operation Mazurka

Last updated

Operation Mazurka is the Australian Defence Force's (ADF) contribution to the Multinational Force and Observers (MFO), an international peacekeeping force, based in the Sinai Peninsula, overseeing the terms of the Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty. [1]

The MFO operates from two secure bases:

The Australian personnel operate predominantly in South Camp.

Australia was an original contributor to the MFO with a joint Australian-New Zealand rotary wing squadron deployed in 1981. In 1993, Australia returned to the MFO with an ADF contingent of 25 personnel. Since that time approximately 1,200 personnel have deployed on Operation Mazurka. [2] [3] The ADF contingent operates on a 6 monthly posting cycle, with a part of the contingent rotating every 3 months. [4]

Role

The mission of the MFO is:

"...to supervise the implementation of the security provisions of the Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty and employ best efforts to prevent any violation of its terms." [5]

The ADF contingent performs various staff functions in the MFO Headquarters, as well as providing the Force Regimental Signals Officer, Security Sergeants to work with the Colombian Infantry Battalion for the base security at North Camp and Operational and Training staff to the MFO. [4]

Related Research Articles

Australian Defence Force Combined military forces of Australia

The Australian Defence Force (ADF) is the military organisation responsible for the defence of Australia. It consists of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), Australian Army, Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) and several "tri-service" units. The ADF has a strength of just over 82,000 full-time personnel and active reservists and is supported by the Department of Defence and several other civilian agencies.

Egypt–Israel Peace Treaty 1979 peace treaty between Egypt and Israel

The Egypt–Israel Peace Treaty was signed in Washington, D.C., United States on 26 March 1979, following the 1978 Camp David Accords. The Egypt–Israel treaty was signed by Egyptian president Anwar Sadat and Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin, and witnessed by United States president Jimmy Carter.

Multinational Force and Observers Medal International military decoration

The Multinational Force and Observers Medal is an international military decoration which was first created on March 24, 1982. The medal was established under the authority of the Director-General of the Multinational Force and Observers (MFO) which were established to monitor a neutral ceasefire zone, between Egypt and Israel, as the result of the Yom Kippur War of 1973.

Multinational Force and Observers

The Multinational Force and Observers (MFO) is an international peacekeeping force overseeing the terms of the peace treaty between Egypt and Israel. The MFO generally operates in and around the Sinai peninsula.

United Nations Emergency Force

The first United Nations Emergency Force (UNEF) was established by United Nations General Assembly to secure an end to the Suez Crisis with resolution 1001 (ES-I) on 7 November 1956. The force was developed in large measure as a result of efforts by UN Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld and a proposal and effort from Canadian Minister of External Affairs Lester B. Pearson, who would later win the Nobel Peace Prize for it. The General Assembly had approved a plan submitted by the Secretary-General which envisaged the deployment of UNEF on both sides of the armistice line. The Second United Nations Emergency Force deployed from October 1973 to July 1979.

David M. Satterfield American diplomat

David Michael Satterfield is an American diplomat and U.S. Ambassador, who has served extensively in the Middle East, including the Persian Gulf area, Lebanon, and Iraq. He later served as a Senior Advisor on Iraq for Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and was Director General of the Multinational Force and Observers, the peacekeeping force for the Sinai Peninsula from June 2009 until August 2017. He was chargé d'affaires to Egypt from August 2013 to January 2014 and was subsequently Special Advisor to the Secretary of State for Libya. From September 2017 to June 2019 he served as the Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, and was confirmed as US ambassador to Turkey on June 27, 2019.

El Gorah locale in Sinai, Egypt

El Gorah is a locale in northeastern Sinai, in Egypt, approximately 16 kilometers from the Israeli border and 37 km southeast of El Arish. The area is sparsely populated by nomads and by farmers who tend small orchards.

The Sinai Field Mission (SFM) began operations in January 1976. SFM operations officially ceased in April 1982 when the Multinational Force and Observers (MFO) came into existence. The SFM was manned by United States Department of State personnel primarily attached to the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and civilian contractors from the Greenville, Texas based aerospace company E-Systems, Inc., (ESY). There were approximately 160 personnel occupying the Base Camp located on the peak of Mt. Umm Kashieb on the Sinai Peninsula. Living quarters consisted of moderately sized concrete rooms that were occupied by one to three personnel depending on their employment status.

16th Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery Regiment of the Australian Army

The 16th Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery is the Australian Army's only ground-based air defence (GBAD) unit. It also provides sense, warn and locate, ground liaison, and joint terminal attack control capabilities. Part of the Royal Regiment of Australian Artillery (RAA), the regiment is responsible for protecting a wide range of military assets during wartime, ranging from Army units in the field to providing point defence to the Royal Australian Navy's support ships and air defence to Royal Australian Air Force air bases. Prior to being equipped with the currently in-service RBS-70 surface-to-air missile system, the regiment was equipped with the Rapier systems for 25 years. The regiment is based at Woodside, South Australia, but frequently deploys with other Australian and allied units on operations and defence exercises. It is part of the 6th Brigade.

Rick Findley Canadian general

Lieutenant-General Eric A. "Rick" Findley, CMM, MSC, CD is a retired officer in the Royal Canadian Air Force and was the Deputy Commander of the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) from July 2003 through August 2007.

Australian Service Medal Australian campaign medal

The Australian Service Medal is an Australian military decoration. It was authorised 13 September 1988 to recognise prescribed service in peacekeeping and non-warlike operations. It is awarded with a clasp to denote the prescribed operation and subsequent awards of the medal are made in the form of additional clasps. The Australian Service Medal 1945–1975 recognises non-warlike service prior to February 1975.

Tim McOwan Senior officer in the Australian Army

Major General Timothy Joseph McOwan, is a retired senior officer of the Australian Army. He served as Special Operations Commander Australia from February 2008 until January 2011, and the Australian Defence Attaché and Head Australian Defence Staff in Washington, D.C. He retired from the army in 2014.

Operation Eagle

Operation Eagle was an Egyptian military campaign in the Sinai Peninsula, that was launched in August, 2011 to confront the Sinai insurgency. The campaign was aimed against Islamist insurgents, who had been attacking the Egyptian security forces in the Sinai and using the area as a base from which to attack Israel since early 2011. Successive Egyptian operation against insurgents in 2012, named Operation Sinai, was initially referred as the second part of Operation Eagle.

Task Force Sinai

Task Force Sinai is the US regiment-sized element of the Multinational Force and Observers ("MFO"), the peacekeeping organization in place in the Sinai Peninsula since 1982. The Task Force commander is a US Army colonel, who also serves as the MFO Chief of Staff. The Task Force commander utilizes American forces to support and achieve the overall observe and report mission of the MFO.

Civilian employees working for the Multinational Force and Observers mission in the Sinai are authorized the MFO Civilian Medal in recognition of their service in the cause of peace.

The United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC) was a peacekeeping mission established in the early 1990s following the civil war which broke out in Cambodia after the collapse of the Khmer Rouge regime in 1979. The Australian government had closely followed events in Cambodia given the possible implications for regional security, while out of a desire to be seen as a good international citizen it had also invested heavily diplomatically in order to push the parties towards a peace agreement. In August 1989 the UN attempted to broker a peace agreement between the warring factions, and included amongst the reconnaissance party were two Australian officers tasked with laying the groundwork for a monitoring force should it be deployed. However, after the collapse of the peace effort the proposed UN force was cancelled and the reconnaissance team withdrawn.

Egypt–Israel relations Bilateral relations between Israel and Egypt

Egypt–Israel relations are foreign relations between Egypt and Israel. The state of war between both countries which dated back to the 1948 Arab–Israeli War culminated in the Yom Kippur War in 1973, and was followed by the 1979 Egypt–Israel Peace Treaty a year after the Camp David Accords, mediated by US president Jimmy Carter. Full diplomatic relations were established on January 26, 1980. Egypt has an embassy in Tel Aviv and a consulate in Eilat. Israel has an embassy in Cairo and a consulate in Alexandria.

Australian military involvement in peacekeeping

Australian military involvement in peacekeeping operations has been diverse, and included participation in both United Nations sponsored missions, as well as those as part of ad hoc coalitions. Indeed, Australians have been involved in more conflicts as peacekeepers than as belligerents; however, according to Peter Londey "in comparative international terms, Australia has only been a moderately energetic peacekeeper." To be sure even though Australia has had peacekeepers in the field continuously for 60 years – the first occasion being in Indonesia in 1947, when Australians were among the very first group of UN military observers – its commitments have generally been limited, consisting of small numbers of high-level and technical support troops or observers and police. David Horner has noted that the pattern changed with the deployment of 600 engineers to Namibia in 1989–90 as the Australian contribution to UNTAG. From the mid-1990s, Australia has been involved in a series of high-profile operations, deploying significantly large units of combat troops in support of a number of missions including those in Cambodia, Rwanda, Somalia and later in East Timor. Australia has been involved in close to 100 separate missions, involving more than 30,000 personnel and 10 Australians have died during these operations.

Sinai insurgency conflict, starting 23 February 2011, ignited by Islamist militants in the Sinai Peninsula

The Sinai insurgency is an ongoing conflict in the Sinai Peninsula, Egypt, between Islamist militants and Egyptian security forces, which has included attacks on civilians. The insurgency began after the start of the Egyptian Crisis, which saw the overthrow of longtime Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak in the Egyptian revolution of 2011.

References