The government hopes that the European Union Training Mission in Mozambique (EUTM-MOZ) will continue to support the training of more military personnel to combat the terrorism that is plaguing Cabo Delgado province, in the north of the country, for another six years.
“We hope that the support programme will continue, because the forces on the ground need to be refreshed,” said the Minister of National Defence, Cristovão Chume.
Speaking in Maputo, at the end of a meeting with the president of the EU’s Political and Security Committee, Delphine Pronk, the minister added that the EU’s efforts are of great importance, since, based on their experience, they have helped the military in all aspects so that they are better prepared for combat.
“We have left the decision up to the European Union. Perhaps we’ll have results for the second phase of the training programme,” she said.
For her part, the chair of the EU’s Political and Security Committee, who is visiting Mozambique, considered that the partnership with the country has been a “success”.
“As for the question of continued support, we can only wait for the strategic review, because there is a lot that goes into making this kind of important decision. But this visit will certainly feed into our discussions in Brussels and allow us to better understand the importance of the training mission and the best way to continue,” he recognised.
Portugal recently guaranteed that it will propose in Brussels a “change to the mandate” of the European Union’s training, given the withdrawal of the SADC mission from the fight against terrorism in Cabo Delgado.
The EUTM-MOZ mission, which included the delivery of non-lethal equipment to the Mozambican Defence and Security Forces worth 90 million euros, is made up of a contingent of 117 people, 65 of whom are Portuguese, forming the 11 companies of Mozambique’s Special Forces, in Katembe (Maputo) and Manica province.
