At the military base of Camp Butmir, the official ceremony took place which marked the handover between the transferring and incoming commander of the Italian contingent currently deployed in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Lieutenant Colonel Felice Sciullo, after six intense months of mission, relinquishes command of the national contingent and of the task force ISR (Intelligence, Survaillance and Recoinnassance) Italian-French, part of the EUFOR “Althea” operation, alongside Salvatore Piazza.
Division Admiral Fabio Agostini, department head, was present planning and exercises of the Joint Forces Operational Command (COVI), which underlined the importance of the Italian presence in the region: there are in fact more than 1,400 soldiers deployed in the Western Balkans, of which around 180 in Bosnia Herzegovina and over 1,200 in nearby Kosovo, included in the NATO KFOR contingent.
The commander of “Althea”, the Hungarian general Laszlo Sticz, who presided over the ceremony, thanked lieutenant colonel Sciullo for the important operational results achieved by the task force and commended the professionalism shown by the Italian soldiers.
The outgoing commander expressed his profound esteem and gratitude to the Italian personnel for the collaboration and professionalism demonstrated during a very demanding mission, thanking his foreign colleagues for the words of appreciation addressed to the national contingent. In wishing the best luck to his successor and classmate – both officers come from the 183rd “Loyalty” course of the Military Academy – he also wanted to point out that the excellent cooperation between Italian and French soldiers constitutes the basis of the brilliant successes operations achieved by task force ISR.