Mozambique: Central Committee meeting enters its third day - AIM report
Photo: Twitter / @czorrinho
António Cunha, a Portuguese Social Democrat deputy, criticised the European Union’s response to the conflict in Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado region on Tuesday, saying it was “far below what was expected”.
Addressing Portuguese Socialist Party MEP Carlos Zorrinho in an intervention in the European Affairs Committee of the Portuguese parliament, in Lisbon, the PSD deputy began by recalling that “the dynamism and densification of the EU-Africa relationship” was one of the priorities of the Portuguese presidency of the EU Council, and that, according to the Minister of State and Foreign Affairs, Augusto Santos Silva, “European support for Mozambique” was also a priority topic.
Pointing out that “northern Mozambique continues to experience the same wave of violence in which it has lived for three years, with houses robbed and destroyed and civil servants refusing to go to work – an authentic war scenario of horrors and devastation – António Cunha criticised the EU’s lack of action, noting that “not even the High Representative for Foreign Policy, Josep Borrell, was able to travel” to the region.
For the Social-Democratic parliamentarian, the EU’s attitude “fell far short of what was expected”. He asked Carlos Zorrinho, rapporteur for the report on a new EU-Africa strategy, if the community bloc “did or has done everything that it is possible to do, in order to help the population of Cabo Delgado” and “if effective support is being provided to Mozambique by the EU and the Portuguese government”.
Socialist MEP Carlos Zorrinho rejected the criticism, saying that “if it were up to the EU, the problem in Cabo Delgado would have been resolved a long time ago”. “The point is that the situation on the ground is extremely complex,” he reasoned, pointing out that “many interests [are] at stake, [with] very complex investments and a component of radicalisation”.
According to Carlos Zorrinho, there was initially a “deafening silence”, not only from the EU, but also from the Mozambican authorities and neighbouring countries such as Tanzania and South Africa.
For this reason, the MEP considered, “it was important that the EU had the courage to send the [Portuguese] Minister of Foreign Affairs” to Mozambique. He “met with the authorities, defined a logistical support plan, a humanitarian support plan and also a set of rules for preparing, between Mozambique, the EU and Portugal, the response to the situation in Cabo Delgado”.
“Unfortunately, the information I have is that it is often not easy to work with the authorities on the ground to define these plans. The people of Mozambique very much want to be helped, but there are those on the ground who do not want this help to be delivered. We will continue to fight for them to be helped,” Zorrinho concluded.
Esta tarde participei numa audição sobre atualidade política europeia na Comissão de Assuntos Europeus da Assembleia da República. Oportunidade de rever bons amigos, entre os quais o seu Predidente Capoulas Santos. @PSnaEuropa pic.twitter.com/sE7TKC3xkW
— Carlos Zorrinho (@czorrinho) March 16, 2021
Armed violence in Cabo Delgado, where Africa’s largest private multinational (natural gas) investment is ongoing, began in 2017, and is causing a humanitarian crisis with more than 2,000 deaths and 560,000 people displaced.
Africa and the EU must establish a new partnership as equals, focusing on people’s needs and adjusting to the needs of a post-Covid world. Article → https://t.co/gqQMgKtIQj pic.twitter.com/qgnWLH9xjQ
— European Parliament (@Europarl_EN) March 17, 2021
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