The Nordic Countries and the European Security and Defence Policy

ICELAND AND THE ESDP 335The annual budget is supposed to increase as the scope of the unit increases andas more personnel are deployed abroad. 25The ICRU is explicitly earmarked for possible use by the EU as well asNATO, the UN and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe(OSCE). In 2001 and 2002 it contributed to missions of all these four bodies inthe Balkans. Its main mission from mid-2004 to early 2005 was the running ofKabul International Airport, as part of the International Security AssistanceForce (ISAF) in Afghanistan, which is now commanded by NATO in supportof UN resolutions on Afghanistan. 26 Around 16 Icelandic personnel weredeployed at Kabul International Airport, 27 and approximately 60 per cent of theICRU’s budget for 2004 was spent on the Kabul mission. 28 The decision thatthe ICRU should take over management of the Kabul airport was based on itssuccessful running of Pristina Airport in Kosovo from October 2002 to April2004, under the auspices of KFOR and NATO. The running of Pristina Airportwas a turning point for the ICRU, which had never overseen such a big projectnor accepted such responsibility before. 29While the Icelandic Crisis Response Unit withdrew from the management ofKabul airport in February 2005 (see below), Afghanistan remains the unit’ssingle largest assignment. Eighteen ICRU personnel are deployed there withtwo of NATO’s provincial reconstruction teams: in northern Afghanistan alongwith personnel from Finland and Norway and in western Afghanistan withpersonnel from Denmark and Lithuania. The aims of the Icelandic personnel inAfghanistan are: (a) to demonstrate ISAF’s presence in remote regions; (b) togather information on, for example, the security situation, the health of thepopulation and water supplies; and (c) to forward this information to internationalaid organizations. Five ICRU persons are deployed with the Sri LankaMonitoring Mission, a Norwegian-led Nordic mission established to overseethe ceasefire between the Government of Sri Lanka forces and the LiberationTigers of Tamil Eelam. It supplies a specialist to the UN Development Fund forWomen (UNIFEM) project in Kosovo and is present in Sarajevo with the EuropeanUnion Police Mission, as mentioned above. 30 In the winter of 2003–200425 Official of the Icelandic Ministry for Foreign Affairs (note 24).26 UN Security Council Resolutions 1386, 20 Dec. 2001; 1444, 27 Nov. 2002; and 1510, 13 Oct.2003—all at URL .27 Official of the Icelandic Ministry for Foreign Affairs (note 22).28 ‘Aukin umsvif og kostnaur vi Íslensku friargæsluna’ [Increased contribution and cost of the Icelandicpeacekeeping unit], Morgunblai, 31 Oct. 2004, URL (authors’ translation).29 The ICRU oversaw airport management and trained local personnel in all aspects of running an airport.Local personnel have now taken over the management of Pristina Airport under UN supervision andwith the help of the Icelandic Civil Aviation Administration (which has made a service deal with the UN).30 The ICRU has also participated in election monitoring, mainly in cooperation with the OSCE. TheICRU provides the official liaison point with the International Rescue Team of Landsbjörg, the IcelandicAssociation for Search and Rescue, which is a specialized unit allied with the UN Office for Coordinationof Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Geneva and a member of the International Search and RescueAdvisory Group (INASRAG). The team was deployed to Morocco in 2004 and had previously worked inTurkey and Algieria, following major earthquakes—a challenge with which Iceland is familiar. SeeHannesson, H. W., Iceland’s permanent representative to the UN, ‘Friargæsla vex a umfangi og nær til