Former colony has been fighting off terrorists for six years

Portugal’s defence minister, Helena Carreiras, has been in Maputo, Mozambique, today defending the continuity of the European Union Training Mission (EUTM-MOZ), which has helped the country fight off terrorist attacks for the last six years.

Ms Carreiras told reporters: “We continue to share the idea that there should be continuity in this mission, which is now being re-evaluated (…) 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”.

EUTM-MOZ is due to assess the future of its presence in Mozambique by the end of this year. It has already trained around 60 Mozambican instructors who will continue training up special forces to help fight rebels in Cabo Delgado, in the north of the country.

As well as providing operational training for the rapid reaction forces (QRF), EUTM-MOZ has also supplied combat equipment to the members of these units, with the value of the material support already exceeding €80 million.

“But the most important thing is that we all understand and believe that (…) we need to capitalise 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 equipment itself,” said Ms Carreiras.

EUTM-MOZ’s current mandate (lasting until September 2024) provided for the training of 11 Mozambican QRF units, each with a composition equivalent to a military company.