EU ambassadors this week approved setting up a military mission in Mozambique to help with the training of the African Nation’s armed forces that are battling jihadists in the north of the country.
Foreign ministers from the 27-nation bloc are due to formally sign off on the mission at a meeting on July 12. This will bolster the CT assistance that has been outpouring for Mozambique in the past couple of months including the South Africa bloc (SADC).
While Portugal is already providing training for Mozambican troops; Lisbon’s military instructors on the ground will make up some half of the new EU mission and other countries will include France, Italy, and Spain.
Elsewhere, Rwandan military personnel were spotted in Cabo Delgado. Last week, on June 23, a group of 35 officers from Paul Kagame arrived in Pemba to assess conditions for a field intervention where they will be for the next two weeks. This is the second mission by Rwandan military personnel to Cabo Delgado as the first took place earlier in May 2021.
The military and technical support that Maputo’s allies are rendering come at a much-needed time where the ISIS provinces in East and Central Africa appear to be resurging and conducting vicious attacks against the military and civilian populations. The urgent need to deal with ISIS provinces from DRC, Somalia, and Tanzania will prevent the unabated spread of the terror organization.
