Description
Description: Australian Officer brass and enamel beret badge – Multinational Force and Observers – Post 1980
Maker’s Name: N/A
Condition: Mint
Comments: Australian Officer brass and enamel beret badge – Multinational Force and Observers – Post 1980. Worn only by officers posted to Multinational Force and Observers (MFO) peace keeping duties in the Sinai. Other Ranks (OR) wear a cloth beret badge.
A scarce and now very collectable hat badge.
The Multinational Force and Observers (MFO) is an international peacekeeping force overseeing the terms of the peace treaty between Egypt and Israel.
On March 26, 1979 the Camp David Accords were signed by Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat under the sponsorship of United States President Jimmy Carter.
Following the signing of the Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty, the United Nations was asked to provide the peacekeeping forces for the Sinai Peninsula mandated in the treaty. The terms of the treaty required the presence of international peacekeepers to ensure that both Israel and Egypt kept to the provisions regarding military build-up along the border.
Initially, the peacekeeping force was provided by the US Sinai Field Mission, while efforts were made to create a UN force.
On May 18, 1981 the President of the UN Security Council indicated that the UN would be unable to provide the force, due to the threat of a veto of the motion by the USSR at the request of Syria.
As a result of the UN Security Council impasse, Egypt, Israel and the United States opened negotiations to set up a peacekeeping organization outside the framework of the UN. On August 3, 1981, the Protocol to the Treaty of Peace was signed, establishing the Multinational Force and Observers.
The mission of the MFO is:
“…to supervise the implementation of the security provisions of the Egyptian-Israeli Treaty of Peace and employ best efforts to prevent any violation of its terms.”
This is accomplished by carrying out four tasks:
* Operating checkpoints, observation posts and conducting reconnaissance patrols on the international border as well as within Zone C,
* Verification of the terms of the peace treaty not less than twice a month,
* Verification of the terms of the peace treaty within 48 hours, upon the request of either party,
* Ensuring freedom of international marine navigation in the Strait of Tiran and access to the Gulf of Aqaba
Over the three decades that the MFO has carried out its mission it has proven a highly successful force. The desire for peace on the part of both Egypt and Israel, combined with the effectiveness of the MFO, has resulted in a durable and lasting state of peace between these two nations.
