The Parliamentary Committee on Foreign Affairs and Portuguese Communities adopted last Tuesday a resolution that places the humanitarian and security crisis in Mozambique among the priorities of the Portuguese Presidency of the European Union (EU).
“The Parliament, in accordance with Article 166(5) of the Constitution, recommends that the Government, with full respect for the sovereignty of the Mozambican State, place the humanitarian crisis and the problem of terrorism in Mozambique among the priorities of the Portuguese Presidency of the Council of the European Union”, says the approved text.
The text, which is a joint resolution of the NAP and CDS-PP resolutions, which had been approved in general, has now been unanimously approved, the committee’s members told Lusa on Tuesday.
The resolution also recommends that the Portuguese government, through the various diplomatic channels, “intercede with the international community to promote all necessary efforts to help stop the crimes against humanity that are taking place in Mozambique and to help the affected populations”.
The MEPs also consider the need for the executive to promote Portugal’s participation in humanitarian actions aimed at restoring peace and supporting the populations, including those displaced in the north of Mozambique, “mobilising all efforts with the international community and the Mozambican embassy in Portugal for this purpose”.
On 5 January, the Foreign Affairs Committee should also have discussed and approved two draft resolutions to put the humanitarian and security crisis in Mozambique on the international agenda during the Portuguese Presidency of the European Union, which began on 1 January.
The debate that preceded the vote on the drafts, scheduled by the CDS-PP, gathered consensus on the need for urgent action to put the Mozambican question on the international and European Union agenda, three years after the start of attacks by armed groups in Cabo Delgado province, which have already caused at least 2,000 deaths and around half a million displaced people.
Since October 2017, some districts in the north and centre of Cabo Delegado province have been the targets of terrorist attacks, which have already resulted in thousands of deaths and hundreds of thousands of displaced people, as well as the destruction of public and private infrastructure.
