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Friday, December 9, 2022

Terrorists give Mozambique president sleepless nights

MAPUTO, Mozambique

“You cannot give quarter, or any kind of protagonism to terrorists”, declared Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi on Thursday in the northern city of Nampula.

He was speaking at the graduation ceremony for an officers’ training course at the Samora Machel Military Academy. Those graduated include officers trained in military engineering, communications, anti-aircraft and terrestrial artillery, armoured vehicles, reconnaissance, and military administration.

Nyusi was confident that the graduates now have the skills “to command units oriented towards success”.

"Be good commanders”, he urged them. “Do everything so that you give your command at the opportune moment. We want commands at the right time.”

"Your colleagues are on the ground”, Nyusi continued, “including yesterday night (Wednesday), where they are pursuing the enemy. You will command the platoons, which have sections where courageous sergeants are on the ground”.

He warned the graduates who have just been trained as second lieutenants, “I don’t want to hear that the commander hesitated and the sergeant seized the combat power from a lieutenant trained in the Academy. They (the sergeants) are here to help you, to cooperate with you, but the command is yours”.

The islamist terrorists in the northern province of Cabo Delgado are now operating in small groups. This modus operandi, Nyusi said, requires that the Mozambican defence forces use units with more flexible platoons, well supported and controlled, in pursuit of the terrorists.

"This is the context in which we want to situate the present graduation”, added the President. “It is producing a corps of officers who will strengthen the command of the sub-units who have been in permanent pursuit of the enemy in the Northern Operational Theatre”.

In time of war, Nyusi said, there is no military specialism that cannot be done on the ground. No officer is trained solely for office work.

"You are all trained to operate on the battlefield”, he said. “You are all skilled to defend our gains. Given the alteration of the operational environment and the change in the modus operandi of the terrorists, who are now operating in small groups, your immediate mission is clear: lead your platoons in pursuit of these groups of terrorists”.

They should not expect comfort. “There is no time to sleep”, stressed Nyusi. “You don’t sleep in the barracks, and, since you are going to command isolated units, organize yourselves in this way, don’t allow any dead time in the barracks, because this is the moment for action. It is on the ground that we want to see you make a difference”.

A war might be planned in an office, said the President, “but it is on the ground where it unfolds and it is there that we want to see you make your contribution to the pacification of the country, by applying in a critical and creative way the specialisms in which you have been trained”.

He urged the new officers to be exemplary, fearless and efficient in complying with the missions entrusted to them.

They should remain close to their men. “I don’t want to see any commander distancing himself from his unit”, said Nyusi. “You should be close to your privates and sergeants”. AIM

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