In its three year, two month lifespan the European Union (EU) training mission in Mozambique – now replaced by a military assistance mission – trained up more than 1 700 FADM (Forças Armadas de Defesa de Moçambique) personnel in musterings ranging from commando and marine to tactical air control.
Training was done by a rotation of instructors from 14 countries, the majority from Portugal with Greece, Italy, Finland, Romania, Spain, Belgium, Lithuania, Austria and Estonia also contributing.
Those trained include 100 plus FADM instructors to ensure the lessons learnt at the hands of the EU instructors are taken to heart and passed on to improve FADM operational efficiency of its quick reaction forces (QRFs).
All told 11 FADM QRFs benefitted from experienced instructors at EUTM MOZ (European Union Training Mission – Mozambique) camps at Dongo, Katembe and Mavalane.
The new mission EUMAM – EU Military Assistance Mission in Mozambique – has as its major focus a shift from training to mentoring, an EU spokesman told defenceWeb. The objective is to ensure the 1 700 trained QRF personnel become self-sufficient by June 2026. This is in line with the European bloc’s commitment to create a safer and more secure environment in Cabo Delgado.
“The mission is permanently deployed in Maputo and its non-executive mandate prevents its involvement in any military operation. EUMAM Mozambique can be deployed to Pemba in Cabo Delgado for co-ordination and/or specialised training, but cannot be deployed elsewhere in the province and cannot accompany FADM in operations,” this publication was informed.
The military assistance mission has a personnel strength of 83 drawn from 11 EU member states – Portugal, Italy, Spain, Romania, Lithuania, Belgium, Austria, Finland, Estonia, Greece and France along with non-EU country Serbia. Its predecessor had a staff complement of 161.
A change of command parade last week saw Portuguese Brigadier General Luis Barrosso take over as mission force commander from fellow countryman Major General Joao Goncalves.
