Mozambique: Pensions now being paid to almost 3,500 former Renamo guerrillas - president
Screen grab: RTP Africa
The commander of the European Union Training Mission in Mozambique (EUTM-MOZ), Major General João Gonçalves, said on Friday that Mozambique’s recurrent request for lethal weapons was “legitimate”, while emphasising the importance of the level of non-lethal equipment already available.
“It’s a legitimate aspiration. A commander in a theatre of operations wants to have access to enough of the best material to carry out his activity, and unfortunately, it has to be that way. You have to fight with lethal material as well,” acknowledged Major General João Gonçalves of the Portuguese Air Force in an interview with Lusa in Maputo.
“Politically, it was decided at the highest level that the design of this mission would be with this €89 million of non-lethal equipment, top quality equipment, which equips any type of modern army in the world,” he explained.
EUTM-MOZ, led by Portugal, has trained more than 1,650 Mozambican commandos and marines in almost two years, who now make up 11 companies of Quick Reaction Forces (QRF) and are already fighting terrorism in Cabo Delgado, as well as a hundred trainers.
The mission in Mozambique was also funded through the European Peace Facility to purchase all kinds of non-lethal equipment for these special forces companies. However, the Mozambican authorities have repeatedly asked for lethal equipment to reinforce the fight against insurgent groups in Cabo Delgado, in the north of the country. “The European Union, by giving this equipment as part of these QRFs, will free Mozambique to try to compensate and find other partnerships for lethal material. I continue to say that from a military point of view and from the point of view of use in the theatre of operations, Mozambique’s aspiration is valid, and it will be something that will be negotiated at a much higher level than mine at a political level,” said João Gonçalves.
This month, the Council of the European Union (EU) announced the extension of the military training mission in Mozambique until 30 June 2026, with an estimated budget of €14 million for the next two years, which will only be used to run the operation.
“It has not yet been decided whether there will be a new aid package for Mozambique under the European Peace Mechanism (…) these are aspects that are dealt with at a political level,” said the Major General.
The new mission will incorporate a strategic change, to be called the EU Military Assistance Mission in Mozambique (EUMAM Mozambique), effective 1 September 2024. The mission’s strategic objectives will be adapted, moving from the training model to assistance with advice. “We will continue to monitor this training [of the QRF] to follow the activities carried out by Mozambique, but from a slightly more rearguard position. And we’re going to advise on the whole part of the ‘iceberg’ that’s underwater and not visible, which is the support, the operation of this QRF cycle,” he said.
“The QRF need to be regenerated. They are not always in combat so; they need to regenerate and maintain all the equipment that the EU has been delivering, and so Mozambique understood that now would be the time for this differentiated support,” said João Gonçalves.
He said the mission, which will be operationalised over the next two years, is still being designed with the Mozambican authorities. However, if Mozambique decides to increase the number of these special forces companies, the Mozambican military will already be responsible for training them.
“It will already be with their own instructors [trained by EUTM-MOZ], and the QRF should not be seen as the men who will form the company. It’s the whole package, all the equipment. The vehicles we’re delivering, of which there are hundreds, the boats, also around a hundred, the field hospitals, all this is part of the QRF. The investment is more than the training,” emphasised the commander.
EUTM-MOZ includes 119 soldiers from 13 member states, more than half from Portugal, but has the particularity of including two other countries, outside the European Union, which contribute one soldier each, in the cases of Serbia and Cabo Verde.
On the table is the possibility of Portugal continuing to lead the new EUMAM Mozambique from September, which will be smaller than the current one.
“Once again, it’s a political decision. What I can tell you is that in the contacts I’ve had, there is this expectation in some of the comrades I’ve spoken to, even from other nations, there is this expectation, but this is an eminently political decision (…) In this respect too, I’m sure that the Portuguese Armed Forces will be available for whatever our government defines as a priority within the scope of its actions in this mission,” he concluded.
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