
Militares das FADM. Foto de Ferhat Momade
Nampula (Mozambique), 31 Dec (AIM) – The Mozambican Defence Ministry plans to register 221,141 people for military service in 2024 – of these, 147,114 will be men and the rest women.
According to the National Director of Human Resources in the Ministry, Col. Jorge Lionel, speaking in the northern city of Nampula on Friday, the Ministry is setting up 1,670 military registration posts. 1,499 of these will be fixed and 171 mobile.
All Mozambicans, men and women, must register for military service in the year of their 18th birthday. According to the projections of the National Statistics Institute (INE), based on the 2017 population census, over 723,000 Mozambicans will celebrate their 18th birthday in 2024.
So either the Ministry is ignorant of the statistics, or it fully expects that the vast majority of young Mozambicans will not register. For 221,141 is only 19.5 per cent of 723,000. So, according to the Defence Ministry’s own figures, over 80 per cent of 18 year olds will ignore the military registration.
The same phenomenon has happened every year since the reintroduction of conscription in 1997. Targets for registration are set which are way below the real number of people reaching the age of 18 that year, and if the Ministry attains the target, it claims victory.
People who did not register in previous years may do so now, provided they are less than 35 years old, the cut-off age for military service. By now, there are millions of young Mozambicans who should have registered in the past, but failed to do so.
According to Leonel, the registration posts will be installed in the district administrations, municipal councils, administrative post headquarters, educational establishments and Mozambican diplomatic missions abroad.
Military registration takes place throughout January and February. At the end of this period, citizens will have a further 30 days to regularize their situation.
Even if the Ministry meets its registration target, only a small percentage of those registered can possibly join the armed forces (FADM). The small number of barracks and training facilities means that the FADM can only recruit a few thousand new troops a year.
Those who fail to register may face penalties. Workplaces, public and private, are supposed to check on the military registration status of the staff they hire. Registration is also a requirement for enrolment in universities.
Defence Minister Cristovao Chume will launch the military registration campaign on 12 January, in the central district of Nhamatanda.
(AIM)
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