Mozambique: Training military a priority for 2023 – defence minister | Watch

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Mozambique: Training military a priority for 2023 – defence minister | Watch

12:29 CAT | 21 Feb 2023

All Photos: Ministério da Defesa Nacional - Moçambique

Mozambique’s defence minister, Cristóvão Chume, said on Monday that training troops was a priority for 2023, during a ceremony in Cabo Delgado to launch the operational year.

“The training of the Mozambican Armed Defence Forces [FADM] must be a permanent and continuous response to the dynamic nature of threats” and “should be the main agenda of our military units this year”, the minister said.

Cristóvão Chume was speaking in Namacande, the district headquarters of Muidumbe, in the country’s northern province, which has faced an armed insurgency for five years.

After the speech, Chume addressed members of the Local Force, a designation given to former combatants and other civilians supporting the troops in Cabo Delgado, reiterating that they would be included in the action plan.

“The government approved the law that says that the Local Force will depend on the head of the General Staff: training, uniform, weapons will be up to them. Food and other logistics will be up to the armed forces as well,” Chume told Local Force members, referencing the law passed in December.

The Mozambican defence minister also urged the residents of Muidumbe to report cases of aggression, drunkenness or any indiscipline by members of the FADM.

“They have an obligation to treat you well. If a soldier appears to be drunk, come and inform the commander to go get him. If they catch a soldier who is beating the population, come and inform him. We will arrest him and send him away,” Chume said.

Figures from the Muidumbe district administration indicate that around 54,000 displaced people have already returned to their home villages, and 17 schools are now back teaching.

Cabo Delgado province has been facing an armed insurgency for five years, with some attacks claimed by the extremist Islamic State group.

The insurgency has led to a military response since July 2021 with support from Rwanda and the Southern African Development Community (SADC), liberating districts next to gas projects in the province, but new waves of attacks have emerged in the south of the province and in neighbouring Nampula.

Watch the Miramar report.