TotalEnergies accused of Mozambique war crimes ‘complicity’

TotalEnergies hopes to restart the gas project in 2029 – Copyright AFP TIMOTHY A. CLARY

An NGO said Tuesday it had filed a legal complaint against TotalEnergies, accusing the French energy multinational of “complicity in war crimes” at its gas site in Mozambique.

The complaint by the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR), a German NGO, was filed on Monday with France’s national anti-terrorism prosecutor, according to the proof of filing seen by AFP.

It focuses on alleged abuses between July and September 2021 by soldiers belonging to a joint task force (JTF) deployed to protect the gas site that the company operates and plans to restart following a jihadist attack.

The alleged abuses, including the torture and killing of dozens of civilians, took place at TotalEnergies’ liquefied natural gas project in the restive northeastern Cabo Delgado province, the ECCHR said in a statement.

“Internal documents show that TotalEnergies was aware of accusations of violence against civilians being committed by Mozambican armed forces from May 2020, yet continued its support to the JTF,” the ECCHR said.

The task force comprised Mozambican armed forces responsible for protecting the infrastructure of the gas site whose operations were suspended following the 2021 jihadist attack.

Online media Politico reported that soldiers working for the site locked up to 250 civilians in containers for three months accusing them of supporting the jihadists.

The civilians were beaten, tortured or killed. Only 26 survived, Politico said.

“TotalEnergies knew that the Mozambican armed forces had been accused of systematic human rights violations, yet continued to support them with the only objective to secure its own facility,” said Clara Gonzales, ECCHR’s co-programme director for business and human rights.

“Companies and their executives are not neutral actors when they operate in conflict zones: if they enable or fuel crimes, they might be complicit and should be held accountable,” she was quoted as saying in the statement.

The gas company, Mozambique LNG, said it had “no knowledge of the alleged events described” nor “any information indicating that such events took place”, according to ECCHR. 

Last month, Mozambican and international NGOs accused TotalEnergies of holding Mozambique “hostage” over the French giant’s demand of “ultra-favourable” conditions to restart the gas project in which TotalEnergies owns a 26.5-percent-stake.

TotalEnergies has said it hopes to resume production at the gas site in 2029, but first needs approval by the authorities for its new budget plan which includes $4.5 billion of cost overruns linked to the delay, to be covered by the Mozambique government.