FILE PHOTO: Portugal’s Defense Minister Joao Cravinho speaks during a news conference in Lisbon, Portugal, February 3, 2021. REUTERS/Pedro Nunes
May 28, 2021
LISBON (Reuters) – Portugal hopes a proposed European Union military training mission to Mozambique, intended to help the southern African country tackle Islamist insurgents, will be approved by June, Defence Minister Joao Cravinho said on Friday.
He told reporters his country was prepared to provide 50% of the mission, but did not elaborate on which countries besides Portugal were ready to supply troops.
“I’d like to follow the formal rules,” Cravinho said. “First the mission must be formally approved, and then the countries who will participate will have the opportunity to declare what they have said privately.”
(Reporting by Victoria Waldersee in Lisbon and Sabine Siebold in Berlin; Editing by Alex Richardson)
Source: One America News Network
