Africa-Press – Mozambique. Mozambique’s president criticised on Friday military personnel trained in academies who “only know terrorism through social media” and who reject the “line of fire” in the north of the country, which is the target of attacks by extremist groups.
“The joke of having many officers trained in academies, but who only know terrorism through social media, must also end. Remember that no one attends a military academy out of obligation; it is a voluntary act and even requires competition. It makes no sense that, after graduating, this individual, who chose this profession, does not want to apply what he learned during his training on the front line,” said Daniel Chapo.
The head of state was speaking today in Maputo at the opening of the coordinating council of the Ministry of Defence, where he stated that there are “cancers” that weaken the health of national defence.
“[There is also] the problem of military personnel who are not physically fit to perform their duties but are not being retired,” said Daniel Chapo.
The president also wants the Ministry of Defence to improve its recruitment methods, arguing that this is the only way to ensure that the country does not train those who will one day “turn against the state”.
“It is urgent to bring back the officers of the Mozambique Defence Armed Forces who are serving in other sectors in the civilian area, to strengthen our workforce. How can we explain that there are so many people from the Armed Forces serving outside the corporation, in a situation where we are targets of terrorism? We are all too few in the fight against this evil that is terrorism,” said Chapo, pointing to the end of January 2026 as the deadline for presenting the nominal list and respective assignments of these military personnel.
The Mozambican head of state wants the defence sector to “dismantle” the alleged scheme to pay commitment subsidies to military personnel in cities, noting that this aid is for those fighting in the northern theatre of operations.
“Civic service should no longer be a job for the clean and cute, as some call them. We need to get our hands dirty producing food to feed our forces and strengthen our logistics. We are not saying that the agricultural production for civic service should be handed over to chiefs and commanders to build ranches on their own land, as is usually the case. That civic service production is to feed our forces,” concluded the Mozambican President.
The gas-rich province of Cabo Delgado in northern Mozambique has been the target of attacks by Islamic extremists for eight years, with the first attack recorded on 5 October 2017 in the district of Mocímboa da Praia. Meanwhile, there are new movements by armed groups in the district of Memba, in Nampula province, also in northern Mozambique.
The Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED) estimates that Cabo Delgado was the scene of 14 violent events between 10 and 23 November involving Islamic State extremists, resulting in 12 deaths.
According to the latest ACLED report, of the 2,270 violent events recorded in Cabo Delgado, a total of 2,107 involved details associated with Islamic State Mozambique (EIM).
These attacks have caused 6,341 deaths in just over eight years, according to the report, including the 12 victims reported in these two weeks of November.
