May 15, 2012 was a special day in the life of the Hungarian contingent of the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP). On that day, with the completion of the preparatory period following the troop rotation, Maj. Gen. Chao Liu, the Force Commander of the UN mission made a tour of inspection around Sector 4.

Sector 4 – a 70-km section along the buffer zone that divides Cyprus – is the responsibility of the Hungarian, Slovak, Serb and Croatian contingents. The major-general started the tour of inspection on the western side of the sector at Patrol Base PB-91, where he was received by Lt.-Col. Péter Lukács, the commander of the Hungarian contingent and Lt.-Col. Jozef Panko, the commander of Sector 4.

After receiving a report from S/Sgt. Gergely Szabó, the commander of the patrol base, the Force Commander mounted a joint patrol together with the team of the military observer and liaison officers (MOLOs). During this patrol, he went all the way along the buffer zone to inspect Camp St. Istvan in Athienou, patrol bases PB-126 and PB-129 in Pyla, the checkpoint CP-10 at Deryneia as well as several other observation posts and bases of special importance.

Following a visit to the abandoned town of Varosha, the patrol task finished at the Sector HQ in Famagusta. After the successful end of a rescue training exercise which involved a simulated car accident, Maj.-Gen. Chao Liu officially declared the inspection to be completed, thanked the personnel for their work and spoke highly of what he had seen during the day, praising the high professional standards of the soldiers serving in Sector 4.

(Ministry of Defence)