EU mulls military role in Mozambique

THE EU will consider sending a military training mission to Mozambique to help the government withstand a growing insurgency, and Portugal is already sending troops, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said yesterday.

Mozambique’s government has been facing an Islamist insurgency since 2017, and rebels have stepped up attacks in the past year, threatening natural gas projects that are aimed at transforming the impoverished country’s economy.

Mozambique wrote to the EU last year to ask for help in training its armed forces to battle the insurgency, and Borrell said it was important for the bloc to make up its mind quickly. EU defence ministers discussed the possibility of a mission in Brussels yesterday, but took no decision.

He also clarified that the mission to Mozambique, if agreed, would be a military, rather than civilian mission, meaning armed forces from EU states would send military instructors.

European soldiers would also need to be prepared to guard troops against attacks in so-called force protection.

Since 2007, the 27-nation EU has had battlegroups of 1,500 personnel on stand-by that can be deployed for up to 120 days, but they have never been used.