Mozambique: Portugal ” confident that the EU response will be positive” – Watch

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Mozambique: Portugal ” confident that the EU response will be positive” – Watch

4:37 CAT | 24 Sep 2020

Portuguese Minister of Foreign Affairs Augusto Santos Silva. [Photo: Euronews]

Portuguese Foreign Minister Augusto Santos Silva said he is confident that the EU’s response to Mozambique, which has asked for support in training its forces to fight terrorism, will be positive.

“Mozambique is very clear in identifying the areas in which European cooperation can support them, particularly in the fight against terrorism in Cabo Delgado and I am confident that the EU will respond positively,” said Augusto Santos Silva.

The head of Portuguese diplomacy also said that as an EU member, Portugal will “actively collaborate so that the response will be positive”.

Augusto Santos Silva, on a visit to Guinea Bissau, recalled that there is a tradition of very strong cooperation between the EU and Mozambique and the issue has already been discussed in the European Parliament, a forum where MEPs said Europe had an obligation to help the forces in Maputo.

“The EU will help because, as the foreign minister of the country that will hold the presidency of the EU Council from January, I already had an opportunity to have a formal meeting with the high representative Josep Borrel and one of the issues was the north of Mozambique, the support to Mozambique,” stressed Santos Silva.

“Based on all this information I am confident that the European Union’s response will come soon and will be positive; and of course Portugal will contribute for it to be swift and for it to be positive,” he said.

The Mozambican government requested Tuesday the support of the EU in the logistics and specialised training of its forces to stop the armed incursions of groups classified as terrorists in Cabo Delgado, in the north of the country.

The province of Cabo Delgado has been the scene for three years of armed attacks by forces classified as terrorists.

The violence has caused a humanitarian crisis with more than 1,000 deaths and some 365,000 internally displaced persons.

Source: Lusa / Euronews