US Offers Medical Trainining To Mozambican Troops

By Jorge Joaquim

The United States government has trained 40 Mozambican soldiers in emergency lifesaving techniques, the US embassy in Maputo has announced. In a statement seen by Pan Afruan Visions, the embassy said that 26 medical staff and 14 soldiers from all branches of the military had received training in providing medical help to soldiers injured on the battlefield.

The techniques will allow them to treat injuries and prevent massive bleeding, which the statement said was the major preventable cause of death on the battlefield.

The training has been funded by the US Department of State, which has provided $730,000-worth of training equipment to help newly certified Mozambican trainers replicate the training programme across the country, the statement added.

The training programme is a clear message that America has increased its presence in Mozambique.

Recently, the US designated the Islamic State group’s Mozambican branch, also known as Al-Shabab and Ansar al-Sunna, as a terrorist organisation together with its leader, a Tanzanian named Abu Yasir Hassan.

The designation requires banks to freeze their assets and bans any US citizen from dealing with them.

Isis in Mozambique has killed over 1,500 civilians since October 2017, and is responsible for orchestrating a series of large scale and sophisticated attacks resulting in the capture of the strategic port of Mocimboa da Praia.