Staffing

EUTM-MOZ is a truly European mission with the participation of 12 European Union Member States (Portugal, Spain, France, Belgium, Italy, Austria, Lithuania, Estonia, Greece, Romania, Sweden and Finland).

Training

According to the mission’s mandate, EUTM-MOZ provides training and equipment to eleven Quick Reaction Forces (QRF): five from Mozambique Navy Fuzileiros and six form the Army Special Forces. Tactical Air Control Parties (TACP), from the Mozambique Air Force, are also being trained in order to integrate these Quick Reaction Forces.

So far, six QRF have been trained (two were previously qualified by bilateral arrangements between Portugal and Mozambique), and all will be able to plan and conduct the full spectrum of military operations, in an autonomous way, when properly equipped. The QRF Operational employment is to be executed in short periods of time missions (2 to 5 days), and are ready to fight in a counter insurgency environment.

The QRF´s are trained primarily to be used as the first response to high intensity crisis, in order to, stabilize a situation that poses an imminent threat to a specific region or the civilian population.

Currently the 3^rd EUTM training cycle is taking place, with one Navy QRF, one Army QRF and one TACP from the Mozambique Air Force.

Equipment Delivery

Through the European Peace Facility (EPF), the EU Council has approved a total amount of 89 million euros to fund equipment to the Armed Forces of Mozambique, complementing therefore the EUTM MOZ training effort.

Through this assistance measure, the EU finances non-lethal equipment, with the aim of increasing the effectiveness and efficiency of the eleven Mozambican QRFs trained by EUTM-MOZ, so that they could,  independently or when participating in Joint operations, develop the necessary and sustainable actions to restore security and provide protection capability to Cabo Delgado.

The non-lethal equipment includes individual and collective equipment, ground and amphibious mobility assets, technical devices and a field hospital.

The Integrated Approach

EUTM-MOZ has always made an effort to mainstream the Integrated Approach as part of its own activities. This includes coordination meetings with other EU actors in Mozambique working in the areas of development cooperation or humanitarian aid, but also, CIMIC activities and projects.

Five Partners Meetings

The Five Partners (5P´s) meetings were born of a joint initiative between the US and European Union Ambassadors in Mozambique, who identified the relevance of having a forum where the major actors with military cooperation and training missions in the territory could share information and coordinate the different initiatives in order to avoid duplications/optimize the effort of each partner and thus maximize the benefit of the Defence Armed Forces of Mozambique (FADM).

These meetings are held at EUTM-MOZ headquarters, with representatives from the EU, FADM, France, Portugal, United Kingdom and United States of America, as well as the FADM, the Southern African Development Community Mission in Mozambique (SAMIM)[1] and Rwanda.

CIMIC Activities

Civil-Military Cooperation is a fundamental instrument to promoting the understanding of the civil environment and facilitating the interactions with civilian actors, with the aim of protecting and promoting the humanitarian principles and the respect for the human rights. The development of projects and activities that promotes this interaction with the population demonstrates that it is possible to achieve acceptable and sustainable solutions with a huge impact on the Integrated Approach holistic view of the European Union.

EUTM MOZ planned and developed, until now, the following solidarity actions:

• Goods donation to several associations.
• Participation in a blood donation campaign, organized by Instituto do Coração (ICOR), that will support the national reserves and also for some children who will undergo heart surgery due to congenital diseases.
• Transformation of a room into a library at one association.

Projects Development

EUTM-MOZ developed several projects to improve training facilities, founded with EU money, and contributed to the improvement of community facilities by coordinating some works and getting sponsors to develop those works.

To improve the training conditions for trainers and trainees in the training camps of Dongo and Katembe, EUTM MOZ funded a project that consists in the creation of a multipurpose room for classes, offices, sanitary facilities and kitchen, based on the use of containers.

Quick Impact Projects

Quick Impact Projects (QIP’s) are small scale and low-cost projects funded by the EU member-states that are planned and implemented within a short timeframe with an impact on the communities (military and civilian). As a result, they cover a wide range of programmatic activities, allowing the improvement of the living conditions of the general population and also the trained soldiers.

Conclusion

The launch of a new military mission is always a challenging process, but after one year we have made a path, side by side with the Mozambican authorities, with a growing degree of mutual trust and we can say that we have grown together in a constant evolution, based on a transparency of procedures and intentions.

We are proud to say that we are making a difference and we are a symbol of the European Union’s commitment to help Mozambique to address terrorism and violent extremism in accordance with our mandate to train the Mozambican QRF, seeking the peace and prosperity to the Mozambican people, who suffered and continue to suffer every day in Cabo Delgado.

[1] The SADC Mission in Mozambique (SAMIM) was deployed on 15 July, 2021, following the approval by the Extraordinary SADC Summit of Heads of State and Government held in Maputo, Republic of Mozambique on 23 June 2021, as a regional response to support the Republic of Mozambique to combat terrorism and acts of violent extremism.