Mozambique: Portugal proposes to alter EU mandate in Cabo Delgado – FM in Rwanda

Login

Register

http://www.clubofmozambique.com/

Mozambique: Portugal proposes to alter EU mandate in Cabo Delgado – FM in Rwanda

3:56 CAT | 13 Feb 2024

File photo: Lusa

Portugal is going to propose in Brussels a “change to the mandate” of the European Union’s training for Mozambique’s armed forces in view of the departure of the SADC counter-terrorism mission in Cabo Delgado, the Portuguese minister of foreign affairs announced on Tuesday.

“With the experience we’ve gained and also with the change in reality due to the departure of the SADC [Southern African Development Community] troops, we’re going to propose a renewal of the European Union’s training mandate and an amendment to that mandate so that it’s a little more comprehensive and has lessons learnt from the experience of the troops trained by the European Union in the fight in northern Mozambique. In other words, to adapt the training a little to the reality”, Portugal’s foreign minister told Lusa on the phone, speaking from Rwanda’s capital Kigali, where he is on an official visit.

Rwanda, stressed João Gomes Cravinho, “is a very important partner” for Portugal, “a country that pays a lot of attention to the African continent”, and “a key player” in scenarios where Portuguese military personnel are involved, such as Mozambique and the Central African Republic (CAR).

In Rwanda, MFA @JoaoCravinho welcomed by his counterpart @Vbiruta. Joint appreciation for progress in 🇵🇹 🇷🇼 relations and potential in fields such as trade, higher education, energy, and infrastructure. Cabo Delgado, Great Lakes, and CAR were among the regional topics discussed. https://t.co/YatEQZrfMD

— Negócios Estrangeiros PT (@nestrangeiro_pt) February 12, 2024

🇷🇼 🇵🇹
Today, Minister @Vbiruta welcomed @JoaoCravinho, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Portugal who is in Rwanda for a two-day visit.

The two ministers held a bilateral meeting and discussed ways to strengthen cooperation between Rwanda and Portugal. They also exchanged on… pic.twitter.com/71U9j6XxTh

— Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Int’l Cooperation (@RwandaMFA) February 12, 2024

During his visit to Kigali, the head of Portuguese diplomacy met with his counterpart, Vincent Biruta, and the minister of defence, Juvenal Marizamunda, as well as with European Union authorities and Portuguese businesspeople.

Since July 2021, Rwanda has had an autonomous military force deployed in Cabo Delgado to combat the terrorist groups that have been operating in northern Mozambique for the past six years, operating in conjunction with the Mozambican Armed Forces. The Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries have also joined these military operations through the SAMIM mission, which is due to leave by June.

“SAMIM has begun its withdrawal operations, and by June, it will have left the theatre, which leaves a certain vacuum; therefore, one of the topics of our conversation was precisely how to support Mozambique in preventing this vacuum from being taken advantage of by terrorist forces in Cabo Delgado,” said Gomes Cravinho.

Portugal took command of the EU Training Mission in Mozambique (EUTM-MOZ), which began in September 2022 and has a two-year mandate. The current mission consists of a contingent of 117 people, 65 of whom are Portuguese.

During the meeting with the two Rwandan leaders, the minister discussed the situation in the CAR, where Portugal has around 250 military personnel involved in United Nations (MINUSCA) and EU missions.

“The big issue is the presence on the ground of the Wagner forces, which in the meantime have changed their name (…), private forces, mercenaries, who are exploiting mines and therefore are also greatly degrading the little authority of the state of the Central African Republic,” said the minister, referring to the Russian mercenaries formerly led by Yevgeny Prigozhin, who rebelled against the Russian President last year and died two months later, in August, in a plane crash.

Portugal and Rwanda discussed “how to circumvent and eventually eliminate the presence of mercenary forces so that the CAR can assume its own responsibilities”, namely by supporting the training of the armed forces of the Central African Republic “without allowing them to come under the command of precisely those mercenaries”, he added.

During the meetings, the conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine were discussed, as well as the “various crises plaguing the African continent”, such as in the Great Lakes region, Sudan and the Sahel.

Gomes Cravinho also pointed out the potential of bilateral relations in areas such as trade, higher education, energy and infrastructure and highlighted “the growth of economic presence” with Portuguese companies operating in public works and construction.

Efacec “did an important job of consolidating the electricity grid” in Rwanda and Mota-Engil is building the new airport and also, together with Martifer, the BioNTech factory – which the minister visited on Monday – the first factory on the African continent capable of producing vaccines with messenger RNA (mRNA) technology and supported by the European Union (EU) with €1.2 billion.

Source: Lusa