Mozambique: Portuguese presidency ‘committed’ to military training mission

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Mozambique: Portuguese presidency ‘committed’ to military training mission

6:27 CAT | 12 Jul 2021

File photo: Lusa

Portugal’s foreign minister said on Monday that the Portuguese presidency of the Council of the EU was “very committed” to “launching” the European Union (EU) military training mission in Mozambique, which will be approved today by the bloc.

“From today’s meeting, I would like to highlight, firstly, the formal approval of the military training and training mission to support the Armed Forces of Mozambique. This is an EU mission which the Portuguese presidency of the Council [of the EU] was very committed to launching over the last six months,” said Santos Silva.

The Portuguese head of diplomacy was speaking at the opening of the Foreign Affairs Council meeting held on Monday in Brussels, which brings together all of the EU’s foreign ministers.

During the meeting, the heads of European diplomacy are expected to formally approve the launch of the EUTM Mozambique mission, which, according to European sources, will “train the Mozambican special forces companies” to “develop a rapid force reaction to change the situation in Cabo Delgado.

In addition to the formal approval of the mission to Mozambique during today’s meeting, Augusto Santos Silva also stressed the importance of the working lunch that the foreign ministers will have with their Israeli counterpart, Yair Lapid.

“This first contact with the new Israeli government is significant, especially since this morning we had a very useful meeting with the Egyptian foreign minister,” he said.

After the permanent representatives of the member states to the EU endorsed, on 30 June, the crisis management concept of a future military training mission in Mozambique, the foreign ministers are today expected to give their final approval to the mission in question.

According to European sources, the EUTM Mozambique mission will last 28 months and be led by the Portuguese Army Brigadier-General Nuno Lemos Pires.

Armed groups have terrorised Cabo Delgado since 2017, with some attacks claimed by the ‘jihadist’ group Islamic State, in a wave of violence that has led to more than 2,800 deaths, according to the ACLED conflict registration project, and 732,000 displaced people, according to the UN.

Source: Lusa