Minister pledges to reduce army term

MILITARY service will be reduced before the end of the current administration, Defence Minister Costas Papacostas said yesterday.

Before his election, President Demetris Christofias had promised a reduction of military service to 19 months but that has not materialised yet with officials saying such a move would hurt the operational capabilities of the National Guard.

Military service has so far been reduced to 24 months from the previous 26.

Papacostas said yesterday the government has not shelved the issue.

“We have not put the reduction of military service in the drawers,” the minister said. “We have not locked service reduction away.”

But reorganising the National Guard is a basic condition for the government to go ahead with the reduction.

“Reduction of military service will happen before the end of this government’s term but there should be some preconditions,” Papacostas said.

He said the first phase of reorganisation will hopefully finish by the end of November to allow the chiefs to assess their needs.

Papacostas added that money would also be needed.

Meanwhile the army command has been fighting an uphill battle against draft dodging.

Exact figures have not been provided by the government, which says however an estimated 20 per cent of conscripts avoid doing their service, usually claiming medical problems.

The government has prepared a bill to tackle the phenomenon but parliament was unable to discuss it before its summer break so that it would come into force this year.

Annual enlistment got underway Friday, but military authorities could not yet tell what the trend is this year.

“We cannot judge from the second day of enlistment,” the minister said while on a visit to a Larnaca camp yesterday. “We will be able to talk about draft dodging figures at the end of the enlistment.”

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