Hungarian Troop Deployment Hinges On Iraq Stability: Minister

BUDAPEST, July 19 (AFP) - Hungary will decide in the next few months whether to extend its military presence in Iraq beyond the end of the year, Defence Minister Ferenc Juhasz said in Iraq on Monday.
"The next few months will determine what direction the internal Iraqi situation will take and I think Hungary's further participation hinges on this," Juhasz told a news conference in Budapest via videophone.
Juhasz was speaking from Hilla, 100 kilometers (65 miles) south of Baghdad, where Hungary's 300 troops are based under Polish command.
He added the decision on whether to extend the mission's mandate beyond December 31, 2004 is up to parliament, where a two-thirds majority is needed to do so.
Juhasz left Hungary on Sunday and returns to Budapest on Tuesday.
It was his first visit to Iraq since a Hungarian soldier died there on June 17 after a bomb exploded next to a Hungarian convoy south of Baghdad.
It was Hungary's first casualty in Iraq and has put the government under pressure from the public and the political opposition to withdraw its troops.