Cabo Delgado: Portuguese minister arrives in Maputo for meetings on EU support

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Cabo Delgado: Portuguese minister arrives in Maputo for meetings on EU support

3:09 CAT | 20 Jan 2021

Photo: União Europeia em Moçambique on Facebook

The Portuguese minister of state and foreign affairs arrived in Maputo on Tuesday on behalf of the European Union (EU) for political contacts with the Mozambican authorities on EU support in the face of violence in Cabo Delgado.

“Every moment is opportune to come to Mozambique, a fantastic country, but this political mission should take place as soon as possible,” Augusto Santos Silva told Lusa after landing at Maputo airport shortly after 10 p.m. (8 p.m. in Lisbon).

“It was possible to do it now and, therefore, we must take advantage of every moment to gather as much information as possible and also to gather all the impressions, perspectives, proposals, suggestions that need to be considered so that the support is effective and also takes place as soon as possible,” he said.

The move follows Mozambique’s request to the EU for enhanced cooperation in September 2020 regarding the security situation in Cabo Delgado.

This Wednesday, Santos Silva’s agenda begins with a meeting with his counterpart Verónica Macamo, Mozambique’s minister for foreign affairs and cooperation, and is due to be received later by the president, Filipe Nyusi.

Other meetings are scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday.

“I have several contacts at different levels to be able to report on my return to Europe from the perspective of the Mozambican authorities,” he added.

Santos Silva thanked the agreement of the Mozambican authorities to hold the meetings, which take place during the six-month period in which Portugal takes over the rotating presidency of the EU Council.

The ministry also expressed its solidarity with the country in the face of the serious security problems in Cabo Delgado.

The armed violence in the northern province of Mozambique, where the largest private multinational investment in Africa is taking place, for the exploitation of natural gas, is causing a humanitarian crisis with more than 2,000 deaths and 560,000 displaced people, without housing or food, mainly concentrated in the provincial capital, Pemba.

Some of the incursions have been claimed by the jihadist Islamic State group since 2019.

In response to questions from the Lusa agency about the mission, a community spokesman said on Monday that the EU is ready to support the government of Mozambique.

“We will discuss the concrete options in the upcoming political dialogues as well as in technical meetings,” he said.

The technical meetings started today, through teleconference via the internet, between the different EU services and Mozambican authorities, namely those linked to the ministries of interior and defence.

“We are naturally ready to work closely with our African partners, and in particular with SADC [Southern African Development Community], to ensure a coherent and coordinated approach,” he added.

EU high representative for foreign policy, Josep Borrell, whom Santos Silva represents during his visit to Mozambique, last week pointed to training and military equipment, humanitarian aid to displaced populations and possibly coastal surveillance missions as possible areas of cooperation to Lusa.

Com o vice-Ministro🇲🇿 Manuel Gonçalves e a Embaixadora🇵🇹 Amélia Paiva na recepção em Maputo do Ministro Santos Silva para 2 dias de missão da #UE🇪🇺, com interacção ao nível técnico e político com as autoridades moçambicanas e ponderar várias posições relativamente a #CaboDelgado. pic.twitter.com/LuAXrkPvQh

— Antonio Sánchez-Benedito Gaspar (@SBeneditoEU) January 19, 2021