Mozambique will take “all possible advantages”from military cooperation with Portugal

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Mozambique will take “all possible advantages”from military cooperation with Portugal

7:24 CAT | 11 May 2021

Photo: Twitter / @defesa_pt

Mozambican Defence Minister Jaime Neto said in Lisbon on Monday that Mozambique will take “all possible advantages” from its military cooperation agreement with Portugal for the next five years.

Neto began a five day official visit to Portugal on Monday. He and his Portuguese counterpart, Joao Gomes Cravinho, signed a framework-agreement establishing the terms of military cooperation between the two countries until 2026, at a ceremony in the S. Juliao da Barra Fort in Oeiras, on the outskirts of Lisbon.

The two ministers made short statements to the press, but took no questions. Neto expressed his satisfaction at the renewal of the framework-programme, which he believed “will continue to help Mozambique in the training component, and other projects that have been added to this new programme”.

“We shall work to draw maximum possible advantage from the agreement, considering the current situation of the country”, he added. He did not say what new projects have been added in the cooperation between the two countries.

Cravinho expressed “great satisfaction” at the signing of the agreement, adding “we have had the occasion to update the cooperation agreement in accordance with the current challenges”.

The Portuguese minister said there would be important training programmes for Mozambican Special Forces in the Maputo neighbourhood of Catembe, and in Chimoio, capital of the central province of Manica.

He added that one result of the agreement will be to multiply fourfold the number of Portuguese troops working with their Mozambican counterparts.

In an interview with the Portuguese news agency Lusa, in February, Cravinho had said 60 special force trainers will soon be travelling to Mozambique, to join the 21 already in the country.

Cravinho stressed that Mozambique and Portugal “are brother countries”, who have “cooperated very closely in the military area for more than 30 years”.

Neto mentioned the situation in the northern province of Cabo Delgado, where Mozambique “is being attacked by foreign forces, by terrorism”. To date, he added, the terrorist attacks had resulted in the deaths of at least 2,000 people, and had displaced some 800,000 from their homes.

To end this suffering, he thought the international community should support the efforts of the Mozambican defence and security forces to defeat terrorism.

In late March, Cravinho had revealed that in addition to training special forces, marines and commandos, the programme includes land-to-air and information components. “I think there is a lot to be gained from working with drones, which offer a capacity for collecting information which could be valuable”, he said.

Assinatura do Programa-Quadro da Cooperação no Domínio da Defesa 2021-2026 entre Portugal e Moçambique, pelo ministro da Defesa Nacional @JoaoCravinho e pelo seu homólogo moçambicano Jaime Bessa Augusto Neto. pic.twitter.com/AT8GucKTaf

— Defesa Nacional (@defesa_pt) May 10, 2021