Africa-Press – Mozambique. A delegation of seven Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) in Maputo yesterday urged that the European Union (EU) hasten delivery of non-lethal military equipment to Mozambican soldiers trained by the EU for the task of combating terrorism in Cabo Delgado province, in the north of the country.
“We have to accelerate the delivery of the equipment that was promised,” said Nathalie Loiseau, chair of the European Parliament’s Chair of the Sub-Committee on Security and Defence, at a press conference.
Delegation head Loiseau added that the MEPs would take their concern about the need to make the material available as soon as possible back to Brussels.
Material, delivery of which began on September 9, includes vehicles, ammunition for training, military uniforms and boots.
The MEP pointed out that the training being given by EU military trainers was successfully achieving the acquisition of skills and coordination capabilities for the fight against insurgents in Cabo Delgado.
“I spoke with the Chief of General Staff [of the Mozambican Defence Armed Forces], and he was satisfied with the training,” Loiseau stressed, adding that, while progress was being made in combating the insurgency in northern Mozambique, challenges still remained.
The French MEP stressed the importance of European solidarity in the fight against insurgents, noting that armed groups had carried out atrocities against defenceless civilians.
The delegation that ended the two-day visit to Mozambique this Tuesday was made up of seven MEPs from the European Parliament’s Subcommittee on Security and Defence
The MEPs visited a training camp staffed by EU military trainers in Chimoio, central Mozambique, and met senior state officials and civil society representatives.
Besides Loiseau, the Security and Defence Subcommittee delegation included MEPs Arnaud Danjean (France), Attila Ara-Kovács (Hungary), Isabel Santos (Portugal), Jaak Madison (Estonia), Lars Patrick Berg (Germany) and Mick Wallace ( Ireland).
The subcommittee visit came shortly after the visit to Mozambique of the EU High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, who, on 9 September, delivered the first tranche of non-lethal military equipment to Mozambican troops trained by the EU in Maputo.
“This is the first delivery, more will follow soon,” as part of a €89 million package (€85 plus an initial instalment of four million) for equipment, Borrell said at the time.
All-terrain cargo vehicles and individual equipment such as uniforms, helmets, shields, goggles and flasks were part of the delivery at the Katembe military base on the southern shore of Maputo Bay, one of the sites of the EU military training mission.
The next tranche of support material will include material for river and sea combat, Borrell said at the time, stressing that European support followed an integrated vision which encompassed economic and social development to restore peace in Cabo Delgado.
From a military point of view, “Mozambique is the first country to receive combat training and material support” simultaneously, under the European Peace Support Mechanism, “a new instrument” created with the aim of making the Mozambican armed forces self-sustaining and no longer in need of external support, he noted.
The EUTM is the EU’s fourth mission of its kind, following similar initiatives in Mali, the Central African Republic and Somalia.
The two-year mission supports the training of 1,100 military personnel from 11 Mozambican Defence Armed Forces rapid reaction – units trained in Chimoio, marines at Katembe, plus tactical air controllers – and is carried out by 119 instructors from 12 EU countries.
Portugal commands the mission and provides the largest contingent, currently 68 soldiers from the three branches of the armed forces and the GNR.
EUTM Mozambique costs – covered by the European Peace Facility – are estimated at €15 million for the two-year period.
Cabo Delgado province is rich in natural gas, but has since 2017 been beset by armed violence, with some attacks claimed by the Islamic State extremist group.
The insurgency led to a military response a year ago by Rwandan and Southern African Development Community (SADC) forces, liberating districts near the province’s natural gas projects, but leading to a new wave of attacks in areas closer to Pemba, the provincial capital, and in the neighbouring province of Nampula.
There are about 800,000 internally displaced people due to the conflict, according to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), and about 4,000 deaths, according to the ACLED conflict registry project.
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