French multinational TotalEnergies has publicly expressed its support for the investigation opened by the Attorney General’s Office (PGR) into alleged human rights violations in Cabo Delgado, a province plagued by armed attacks since 2017.
In a statement released on Thursday (27), the company confirmed that the Mozambique LNG consortium, which it leads with a 26.5% stake, ‘will cooperate fully with the authorities’ in the criminal proceedings launched by the PGR against unknown individuals, following allegations involving members of the Mozambican Defence and Security Forces (FDS).
The allegations, first publicised by international media at the end of 2024, refer to acts of torture, arbitrary detentions and summary executions of civilians that took place in 2021 on the Afungi peninsula, the area where TotalEnergies’ natural gas megaproject infrastructure is located.
The company claims to have itself requested, in November 2024, the opening of a formal investigation by the Mozambican authorities, after the reports were made public.
Furthermore, in January 2025, TotalEnergies CEO Patrick Pouyanné reiterated the request during a meeting with the head of state, Daniel Chapo, emphasising the need for the investigation to take place ‘in accordance with the principles of the rule of law and national sovereignty.’
In the same vein, TotalEnergies also requested the intervention of Mozambique’s National Human Rights Commission (CNDH), which confirmed on 25 March that it had begun an independent investigation into the alleged facts.
According to the content of the report that prompted the investigation, a military unit assigned to the security of the gas project allegedly kept civilians in containers, beaten and deprived of food for prolonged periods, resulting in deaths and serious sequelae. The victims were allegedly residents accused of links to insurgent groups.
The oil company welcomes the formal opening of the criminal investigation and expresses the expectation that all the proceedings will be conducted ‘transparently, fairly and impartially’, guaranteeing respect for the rights of the parties involved.
Suspended since 2021 due to instability in the region, the liquefied natural gas project in Afungi is currently being evaluated for possible resumption. Cabo Delgado remains under threat from armed insurgency, which has already caused thousands of deaths and displaced more than a million people.
Source: Lusa
