Maputo — The Mozambican government has asked the European Union (EU) for lethal equipment to fight Islamist terrorists in the northern Mozambican province of Cabo Delgado.
The European Council has recently prolonged the mandate of the European Union Training Mission in Mozambique (EUTM) until 30 June 2026. A budget of over 14 million Euros has been allocated to the EUTM to cover this period.
The request was expressed on Thursday by Foreign Minister Verónica Macamo, during the audience she granted to the European Union Exploratory Mission, which is in Mozambique to carry out a Pre-Electoral Assessment, with a view to ascertaining the conditions for the presidential, parliamentary and provincial elections scheduled for 9 October.
Macamo took this opportunity to reiterate the country's need to receive support in lethal equipment from the European Union (EU) to combat terrorism.
In response, the head of the EU mission, Ricardo Chelleri, explained that "this issue is outside our scope. Our scope is electoral. Within the framework of the relations between the European Union and Mozambique, there are personnel who are responsible for security issues.'
Chelleri said the purpose of his delegation is to make recommendations to the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy , Josep Borrell, so that he could decide whether the EU "will or will not send an election observation mission' to Mozambique for the presidential, parliamentary and provincial elections scheduled for 9 October.
He told reporters that his mission is holding the largest number of meetings possible, including with the Mozambican parliament, the Assembly of the Republic, with political parties, and with civil society "so that we can draw up a report which will feed the decision of the High Representative on whether to send an election observation mission'.
Such exploratory missions, Chelleri added, "are a methodology followed whenever a particular country invites the EU to observe elections. It's not just the specific case of Mozambique'.
