On Monday December 18 in Maputo, Defense Minister Helena Carreiras defended the continuity of the European Union Training Mission in Mozambique (EUTM-MOZ), considering it essential to consolidate the work already done.
“We continue to share the idea that there should be continuity in this mission, which is now being reassessed (…) We have already been working with our partners, sharing what is also Mozambique’s position, in the sense that this mission should continue, whether in this form or in a revised form,” said Helena Carreiras, on the sidelines of a meeting with the Mozambican Minister of Defense, Cristóvão Chume, as part of her working visit to Mozambique.
With a two-year mandate starting in September 2022, EUTM-MOZ will assess the future of its presence in Mozambique with the Mozambican authorities by the end of this year. It has already trained around 60 Mozambican instructors who will continue training Special Forces, especially for soldiers on the front line fighting rebels in Cabo Delgado, in the north of the country.
In addition to providing operational training for the formation of quick reaction forces (QRF), EUTM-MOZ has also supplied combat equipment to members of these units, with the value of the material support provided already exceeding 80 million euros.
“But the most important thing is that we all understand and believe that (…) we need to capitalize on and take advantage of the effort that has already been invested in training 11 companies, expanding this work in the area of consolidating and maintaining this operational cycle, both from the point of view of training and the equipment itself,” said Helena Carreiras.
EUTM-MOZ’s mandate provided for the formation of 11 Mozambican QRF units, each of which has a composition equivalent to a military company.
The current mission is made up of a contingent of 117 people, 65 of whom are from Portugal, the country that has also taken command of EUTM-MOZ.