EU aiding Mozambique to combat ISIS terror

Roni Alasor – 14 September 2022 - Middle East Diplomatic - Josep Borrell, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy / Vice-President of the European Commission announced that the EU will help Mozambique additionally with 15 million Euro to fight against different versions of the ISIS terrorist jihadists.

After visiting Mozambique, Mr Borrell said that this support will also contribute  to security in Europe : Mozambique’s fight against terrorism is one of these security crises that we help to tackle using all EU instruments. Mozambique is a country where EU support plays a significant including through one of the largest recipients of EU support and host to one of our EU military training missions.

EU High Representative underlined that despite facing the worst threat to European security since the end of World War II with the war of aggression against Ukraine, but the EU should not forget crises in other parts of the world.

But we know that you cannot win a war against terror with soldiers and weapons only. To win this kind of war, one needs to win the peace as well. This is why we work closely with the Government of Mozambique to cover the full spectrum of humanitarian, development, security and peace-building actions. In parallel to our security support, we focus on education, access to water and sanitation, energy, nutrition and climate change. This includes a package of € 428 million for the period 2021-2024, in addition to around €R 36 million of humanitarian assistance (mainly to Cabo Delgado since 2021).

According to the EU’s own information sources : Mozambique with ca 30 million population, it has a fast demographic growth (6 children per woman on average), its population is set to double by 2050 (and already now almost half of the population is under the age of 14). Mozambique ranks 181/189 on the Human Development Index and the poverty rate is above 60%. After the country became independent from Portugal in 1975, Mozambique went through a protracted civil war that ended in 1992, but it was only in 2019, that a “definitive” peace and reconciliation agreement was reached.

After that Portugal left Mozambique as colony in 1975, the country has suffered strongly with different ethnical-religious economical-political crises including the civil war, worst in the northern Cabo Delgado province where armed attacks since 2017 leading to an unprecedented humanitarian and security crisis.

Fighting have resulted in over 4.000 deaths, some 950,000 internally displaced persons and 1.5 million people in need of humanitarian assistance in this region. This insurgency is inspired and driven by ISIS, while local grievances and domestic root causes also play a significant role. Foreign fighters are involved and their transit to Cabo Delgado poses risks to neighbouring countries. Due to this instability, the region has become a hotspot of organised crime (heroin, wildlife, wood and gemstone trafficking for instance) in Mozambique and the entire Southern African region.