The Portuguese government expressed on Tuesday, October 7, its willingness to cooperate with Mozambique in the area of defense to strengthen the Mozambican Armed Defense Forces (FADM), in light of the recent terrorist attacks in Cabo Delgado province, in the north of the country.
“Portugal is a priority ally and has always been at the forefront of cooperation in the areas of security and defense, in order to help eradicate terrorism,” said Portugal’s ambassador to Mozambique, Jorge Monteiro, after a meeting in Maputo with the president of Parliament, Margarida Talapa.
The diplomat reiterated that his country provides assistance to the FADM through the European Union Training Mission in Mozambique (EUMAM MOZ), launched in 2021, which trains more than 500 Mozambican soldiers each year.
Recently, the EUMAM MOZ announced the completion of a Maintenance Program aimed at strengthening the technical and organizational capabilities of the Mozambican Armed Defense Forces in the areas of maintenance and operational support. Seventeen Mozambican officers participated in and successfully completed this specialized training.
The training took place at the FADM Military Driving School, where participants acquired essential knowledge for creating and managing maintenance support units — structures that are vital to ensuring the readiness, sustainability, and operational autonomy of the national armed forces.
EUMAM MOZ is a non-executive mission, with a mandate until June 2026, focusing on operational and maintenance training cycles, and also provides specialized training to the FADM to help them become self-sufficient in combating the insurgency that has affected several districts of Cabo Delgado since 2017.
Since October 2017, Cabo Delgado — a province rich in natural resources, particularly gas — has been the stage of an armed insurgency that has caused thousands of deaths and triggered a humanitarian crisis with more than one million internally displaced people.
In April, the attacks also spread to the neighboring Niassa province. One of the most serious incidents occurred in the Niassa Reserve and at the Mariri Environmental Center, in Mecula district, where non-state armed groups attacked facilities, looted property, destroyed camps, and damaged a park aircraft. These acts resulted in the deaths of at least two people and the displacement of more than two thousand individuals, 55% of whom are children.
Source: Diário Económico
