Mozambique’s 1st Rapid Reaction Company completes a four-month refresher course in Katembe

• The Unit, supported by the European Union Military Assistance Mission in Mozambique, has integrated new commandos and standardised its combat procedures

The Mozambican Army’s 1st Rapid Reaction Company has completed a four-month refresher training course in Katembe, supported by the European Union Military Assistance Mission in Mozambique (EUMAM MOZ). During this period, the unit has integrated new commandos and standardised its combat procedures.

The aim has been to restore the Company’s ability to operate as a single unit. To this end, the cycle has combined the integration of new personnel with the re-establishment of standard procedures, collective discipline and coordination between commanders, teams and combatants.

During the first phase, the focus was on levelling out individual capabilities and consolidating essential skills. This foundational knowledge enabled the programme to progress to training centred on collective action and the integration of the various members of the unit. Subsequently, the training addressed coordination between teams, response to threatening situations, command and control, safety, sustainment and the ability to perform under pressure.

The final exercise took place in a realistic setting to put everything that had been learnt into practice and to verify that the procedures practised could be applied in an integrated manner, thereby ensuring the unit’s operational autonomy.

The role of the military personnel forming part of the European Union Military Assistance Mission in Mozambique (EUMAM MOZ) is to support, advise and mentor during activities, so that it is the national instructors and commanders themselves who lead the training of their own forces.

Spain has contributed to this process through the European mission’s multinational team of mentors, led by a lieutenant colonel in the Spanish Army, Luis Fernando Laguna Garín. The mentors have worked alongside Mozambican commanders and instructors, supporting the preparation of activities, monitoring the unit’s progress and helping to identify the lessons learnt from the cycle.

With the conclusion of this phase, Katembe ceases to be merely the setting for a regeneration process and becomes the starting point for the next step: the operational deployment of the 1st Rapid Reaction Company in Cabo Delgado, where the unit will be required to apply the capabilities it has regained, maintain cohesion under pressure and contribute to the response to the insurgency. For EUMAM MOZ and for Spain as a contributing nation, the completion of this cycle reflects the aim of supporting Mozambique in building forces that are more cohesive, autonomous and capable of responding to their own security challenges.

This reflects Spain’s commitment and contribution to the European Union’s multinational effort to strengthen the capabilities of the Mozambican Armed Forces (FADM), enhancing their operational autonomy and their ability to respond to security challenges and protect their population. Through exercises of this kind, EUMAM MOZ and the FADM continue to work together towards the consolidation of professional, well-prepared armed forces that are close to the population.

EUMAM  Mozambique: shared security

On 16 April 2024, the Political and Security Committee (PSC) agreed to the gradual transition of the European Union Training Mission (EUTM) Mozambique, which began in 2021, towards a model combining advice, mentoring and specialised training for units of the Mozambican Armed Forces’ Rapid Reaction Force.

At present, under the name of the European Union Military Assistance Mission in Mozambique (EUMAM Mozambique), European military personnel — including two Spanish officers — continue to work to enhance the capabilities of these units so that they can independently ensure the safety of the population, particularly in the north of the country.