Mozambican President Wants Transparency in Military Recruitment

Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi warned this Monday of the risk of corruption, making recruitment to the Mozambique Armed Defense Forces (FADM) vulnerable to infiltration by “enemy agents” and “persons with alien plans.”

“The Recruitment Process [nas FADM] it should not be characterized by corruption in order to avoid the inclusion of enemy agents, ”Nyusi said at the opening of the coordination council of the Mozambique Ministry of Defense.

For the head of state, “some of the threats stem from internal dynamics” and therefore “controls” should be tightened on joining the FADM and on the Mozambican civil service.

“FADM and the Mozambique Civil Service cannot welcome people with someone else’s plans,” he said.

Filipe Nyusi also said that the terrorism that has plagued the province of Cabo Delgado for five years is creating an “environment of chaos” that is conducive to other types of crime, such as trafficking in drugs, weapons and human organs.

“It is urgent to deal with these phenomena in a programmed, organized and decisive manner, at the risk of jeopardizing the happy fate we are striving for,” Nyusi said.

The province of Cabo Delgado, rich in natural gas, has been terrorized by armed violence since 2017, with some of the attacks blamed on the Islamic State extremist group.

The insurgency led to military retaliation just over a year ago, with the support of Rwanda and the Southern African Development Community (SADC), which liberated areas near gas projects, but new waves of violence have sprung up in the south of the region. and in the neighboring province of Nampula.

Over five years, the conflict has displaced one million people and killed about 4,000 people, according to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, according to the ACLED Conflict Registration Project.