European Union officials have agreed to set up a military mission in Mozambique to assist the southern African country train its security forces in fighting Islamic State-linked insurgents in its Cabo Delgado province.
According to reports on Thursday, Portugal, France, Italy and Spain are among EU countries that have agreed to contribute military instructors for the mission to Mozambique.
Portugal is already providing training for Mozambican troops and Lisbon’s military instructors on the ground will make up some half of the new EU mission, according to the reports.
The reports said foreign ministers from the EU are due to formally sign off on the mission at a meeting on July 12.
The proposed EU mission comes weeks after the Southern African Development Community resolved in late June to deploy an intervention force for Mozambique where a deadly insurgency by the IS-linked militants has ravaged the gas-rich Cabo Delgado province since late 2017, claiming some 3,000 lives and displacing 800,000 people.
JN/APA