Portugal has offered to send an additional 60 soldiers to train Mozambican troops in tackling an Islamic State-linked insurgency in the north of the country, APA learnt here on Tuesday.
Portuguese defence minister Joao Cravinho said the dispatch of the troops was part of an agreement reached between Lisbon and Maputo aimed at helping the southern African country country tackle the insurgency in Cabo Delgado province.
“An important project has been added to train Mozambican military personnel and the result is that the programme will see four times more Portuguese troops working with their Mozambican counterparts,” Cravinho said.
Under the agreement, Portugal would provide the training until 2026 in a move that would see the two countries sharing intelligence and helping each other through the use of drones to track the militants’ movements.
The troops are in addition to 60 Portuguese special forces already dispatched to train soldiers in Mozambique, a former Portuguese colony, following a major attack on the key northern town of Palma in March.
The agreement come in the wake of an increase in attacks by the IS-linked militia in Cabo Delgado province since 2017.
JN/APA