Cristóvão Artur Chume

Cristóvão Artur Chume is a Mozambican military general who was appointed Minister of National Defense in November 2021. He had previously served as the Commander of the Army Branch of the Mozambique Defence Armed Forces from March to November 2021.

His Excellency Cristóvão Artur Chume
Chume in 2021
Minister of National Defense of Mozambique
Incumbent
Assumed office 11 November 2021
President	Filipe Nyusi
Prime Minister	Adriano Maleiane Carlos Agostinho do Rosário
Preceded by	Jaime Neto
Commander of the Mozambican Army
In office 12 March 2021 – 11 November 2021
President	Filipe Nyusi
Personal details
Nationality	Mozambican
Political party	FRELIMO
Military service
Allegiance	Mozambique
Branch/service	Mozambican Army
Years of service	1990 – present
Rank	Major-General
Battles/wars	RENAMO insurgency (2013–2021) Insurgency in Cabo Delgado

Background

Chume served as the National Director of Defense Policy from 2011 to 2019. During the clashes between RENAMO and the Defense and Security Forces between 2013 and 2014, Chume was one of the main faces representing the Ministry of Defense.^[1]

In 2019, he was appointed head of the Marechal Samora Machel Military Academy in Nampula. On 12 March 2021, Chume was appointed as the Commander of the Army Branch of the Mozambique Defence Armed Forces (MDAF) by president Filipe Nyusi after changes in the structure of the Defense Armed Forces promoted by the Mozambican Head of State.^[2] Major-General Francisco Zacarias Mataruca was appointed to replace him as chief of the Military Academy.^[3][4]

On 11 November 2021, Nyusi dismissed Chume as Commander of the Army Branch and appointed him as Minister of National Defense, replacing Jaime Neto, who had been sacked by Nyusi a day earlier.^[5][6][7][8]