Mozambique: Nyusi pays tribute to Eugénio Musa – AIM report

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Mozambique: Nyusi pays tribute to Eugénio Musa – AIM report

6:39 CAT | 10 Feb 2021

Photo: Noticias

Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi on Tuesday paid tribute to the late General Eugenio Mussa, Chief of Staff of the Mozambican Armed Forces (FADM), who died of illness in a Maputo hospital on Monday.

Addressing a Maputo military ceremony in Mussa’s honour, Nyusi said that, over the past three months, Mussa, as commander of the northern operational theater, had commanded successful operations against terrorist groups in the northern province of Cabo Delgado, and this had led to his promotion.

But he had been chief of staff for less than a month when illness (the exact nature of which has not been revealed) struck him down. “The country has just lost a complete patriot”, said Nyusi. “A citizen committed to the noble causes of this nation has departed from us early”.

“We have lost a personality who lived to defend our sovereignty and our territorial integrity”, he added.

Looking back on Mussa’s career, Nyusi said he joined the FPLM, the armed forces of the liberation movement, Frelimo, in 1974, immediately before Mozambican independence the following year. He “was always in the vanguard of the construction of the new nation”, said the President.

During the war of destabilisation waged by the apartheid regime against Mozambique, Mussa was provincial commander in Maputo, then commander of the brigade based in the northern city of Cuamba, and commander of the northern military region.

In 2004, Mussa was appointed commander of the Samora Machel Military Academy in Nampula. He was promoted to the rank of major-general in 2008, and became chief of staff of the army.

In 2016, he was appointed commander of the Civic Service of Mozambique, a post he held until this January. But by then, he had already been put in charge of the war against the islamist terrorists in Cabo Delgado, as commander of the northern operational theatre.

On 14 January, Nyusi appointed him Chief of Staff of the FADM and promoted him to the rank of General of the Army.

He had also been a key figure in negotiations between the government and the main opposition party Renamo, and after the peace agreement signed in August 2019, he took a leading role in the demobilization, disarming and reintegration (DDR) of the Renamo militia.

Renamo leader Ossufo Momade acknowledged this in a phone call he made to Nyusi on Tuesday, offering his condolences.

According to Nyusi’s Facebook page, Momade said he regarded the death of Mussa as “an irreparable loss”. He had come to know Mussa well, as “the man who established the linkage with the government on the Military Affairs Commission” (one of the bodies set up under the dialogue between the government and Renamo), and praised him for his role in facilitating the DDR.

Nyusi said he had received a similar message from Daviz Simango, mayor of Beira and leader of the second largest opposition party, the Mozambique Democratic Movement (MDM). Simango described Mussa as “a professional and a man of integrity”.

Nyusi will attend Mussa’s official funeral, due to be held on Wednesday in his home district of Moma, in Nampula province.

Source: AIM / Correio da Matola