
Militares das FADM. Foto de Ferhat Momade
Maputo, 12 Mar (AIM) – The Mozambican Defence Ministry on Monday announced that this year it has registered 280,787 young Mozambicans for military service.
The target set was 221,141, and so the ministry’s Director of Human Resources, Jorge Leonel, speaking at a Maputo press conference, claimed that it had met 127 per cent of the target.
However, it is easy to meet targets when these are set artificially low. Under the Mozambican legislation on military service, all Mozambicans, of both sexes, should register in the year of their 18th birthday.
But 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.
Assuming that the Defence Ministry is aware of the INE’s statistics, it was fully expecting that the vast majority of young Mozambicans would 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 were likely to ignore the military registration. The final figure was somewhat better. 38.8 per cent of 18 year olds registered.
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.
To reach the target, the Ministry set up 1,670 registration posts, 1,499 of them fixed, and 171 mobile.
Leonel said that of those registered, 177,504 are men and 103,347 are women. The provinces that surpassed their targets included Zambezia (147.63 per cent), Maputo province (142.02 per cent) and Manica (140.03 per cent).
Leonel stressed that the northern province of Cabo Delgado also beat the target. The projection was that Cabo Delgado would register 15,789 people, but the final figure for this province was 17.421 – 110 per cent of the target.
“Despite terrorism”, said Leonel, “the province not only managed to meet its target, but surpassed it.”
In 2023, 278,035 people registered for military service. This year’s figure is an increase of 1.7 per cent.
The Ministry praised the commitment of the Provincial Recruitment and Mobilisation Centres which set up registration posts in all districts, municipalities, administrative posts and localities.
Registration normally occurs in January and February – but anyone who failed to register in this period can still do so at the provincial recruitment centres until the end of March.
Registration does not imply joining the armed forces (FADM) – only a small percentage of those registered can possibly join. The relatively small number of barracks and training facilities means that the FADM can only recruit a few thousand new troops a year.
(AIM)
Pf/ (449)