EU Parliament: Security and Defence Subcommittee MEPs to visit Mozambique

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EU Parliament: Security and Defence Subcommittee MEPs to visit Mozambique

3:51 CAT | 16 Sep 2022

A delegation from the European Parliament’s Security and Defence subcommittee will visit Mozambique between 18 and 21 September, with the aim of evaluating the work of the European Union training mission here.

A statement released today by the parliamentary subcommittee says the purpose of the visit is “to assess the work of the EU Training Mission in Mozambique (EUTM) and to reinforce the importance of EU-Mozambique cooperation on security and defence”.

The delegation is headed by Subcommittee Chair Nathalie Loiseau (France), and includes six other MEPs: Arnaud Danjean (France), Attila Ara-Kovács (Hungary), Isabel Santos (Portugal), Jaak Madison (Estonia), Lars Patrick Berg (Denmark) and Mick Wallace (Ireland).

The European Parliament communique recalls that, “under the European Peace Facility, the EU agreed last week to support the Southern African Development Community (SADC) mission to Mozambique (SAMIM) with €15 million, providing the military component of SAMIM with camp fortifications and storage containers, medical equipment, vehicles and boats, as well as technological devices”.

“By providing this support, the EU joins Mozambican and international efforts to restore peace, safety and security in the North of Mozambique, protect the civilian population, and allow for the return of internally displaced persons, accountable law enforcement, aznd state structures and services to the area,” the note adds.

This visit takes place shortly after the visit to Mozambique of the EU High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, who, on 9 September, delivered in Maputo the first tranche of non-lethal military equipment for Mozambican troops trained by the EU to fight in Cabo Delgado.

“This is the first delivery, more will follow soon,” as part of a €89 million package (€85 plus an initial instalment of four million) for equipment, Borrell said at the time.

All-terrain cargo vehicles and individual equipment such as uniforms, helmets, shields, eyeglasses [goggles] and flasks were part of the delivery at the Katembe military base on the southern shore of Maputo Bay, one of the sites of the EU military training mission.

The next tranche of support material will include material for river and sea combat, Borrell said at the time, stressing that European support followed an integrated vision which encompassed economic and social development to restore peace in Cabo Delgado.

From a military point of view, “Mozambique is the first country to receive combat training and material support” simultaneously, under the European Peace Support Mechanism – “a new instrument” with the aim of making the armed forces self-sustaining and no longer in need of external support, he noted.

The EUTM is EU’s the fourth mission of its kind, following similar initiatives in Mali, the Central African Republic and Somalia.

The two-year mission supports the training of 1,100 military personnel from 11 Mozambican Defence Armed Forces rapid reaction – units trained in Chimoio, marines at Katembe, plus tactical air controllers – and is carried out by 119 instructors from 12 EU countries.

Portugal commands the mission and provides the largest contingent, currently 68 soldiers from the three branches of the armed forces and the GNR.

EUTM Mozambique costs covered by the European Peace Facility are estimated at €15 million for the two-year period.

Cabo Delgado province is rich in natural gas, but has since 2017 been beset by armed violence, with some attacks claimed by the Islamic State extremist group.

The insurgency led to a military response a year ago by Rwandan and Southern African Development Community (SADC) forces, liberating districts near the province’s natural gas projects, but leading to a new wave of attacks in areas closer to Pemba, the provincial capital, and in the neighbouring province of Nampula.

The conflict has already cost more than 4,000 lives, according to the ACLED conflict register, and displaced more than 817,000 civilians (Mozambican authorities.

Source: Lusa