EU weighs navy coaching mission for Mozambique – KIRO 7 Information Seattle

BRUSSELS – (AP) – European Union Defense Ministers on Thursday discussed plans to set up a military training mission in Mozambique in the coming months to help the local government take control of parts of the South African country that are held by extremist rebels .

The United Nations World Food Program recently warned that the humanitarian crisis caused by the extremist uprising in northern Mozambique is growing rapidly and that more than 950,000 people are in dire need of food aid.

French energy company Total announced late last month that it had suspended all operations for its $ 20 billion investment in a liquefied natural gas project in northern Mozambique due to the rebel offensive.

EU foreign policy official Josep Borrell told reporters in Brussels that developments in the country “are increasingly a matter of concern”.

“The government of Mozambique asked for help. We will try to send a training mission (like the one in the Sahel) to contain the security situation, ”said Borrell. Since 2013, the EU has been helping to train Mali’s army and rebuild its defense institutions on a non-combatant mission.

Such a mission in Mozambique could be launched in the second half of 2021, and the 27-nation bloc is considering supplying the army there with military equipment.

The South African development community of 16 nations is also considering sending more than 2,500 regional troops to Mozambique to help fight the rebels.