Rwanda, Mozambique military generals meet in Cabo Delgado as new agreement is inked in Kigali
Photo: MISAU
The Chinese armed forces on Thursday offered the Mozambican defence forces (FADM) 60,000 doses of vaccine against the Covid-19 respiratory disease.
Signing the delivery note were the National Director of Military Health in the Mozambican Defence Ministry, Agueda Duarte, and the military attaché at the Chinese embassy, Zhou Zhe.
The ceremony was witnessed by the Defence and Health Ministers, Jaime Neto and Armindo Tiago, and by the Chinese ambassador, Wang Hejun.
Speaking immediately after the signing, Neto said the Chinese support will meet the vaccination needs of the FADM.
“The vaccines we have just received”, he declared, “will guarantee the effective immunisation of the Mozambican armed forces, thus allowing our troops to comply to the full with the missions attributed to them”.
The vaccines will be delivered, not to the armed forces, but to the Health Ministry. 60,000 doses are more than the FADM requires, and so the Ministry will ensure that the surplus is distributed to other groups that require vaccination.
The current missions of the FADM, Neto said, include the fight against terrorism in parts of the northern province of Cabo Delgado, and against the raids carried out by the self-styled “Renamo Military Junta”, in the centre of the country
“Only with healthy armed forces will we be able to carry out our mission of defending our sovereignty and territorial integrity”, stressed Neto.
For his part, Wang said the Chinese armed forces had decided to offer the vaccines, because they understood that the needs of the FADM are urgent. He hoped that the vaccines “will create a shield of protection for members of the FADM, in complying with their noble mission of maintaining the security and stability of the nation”.
This is the second donation of Chinese vaccines to Mozambique. In February, Mozambique received 200,000 doses of the vaccine produced by the Chinese company Sinopharm. The first people to receive this vaccine were Mozambican health professionals.
Wang said this was the fruit of “the deep friendship between the presidents (Filipe Nyusi and Xi Jinping) and between the two peoples”.
(AIM)
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