French energy giant Total’s withdrawal from the Afungi Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) project in northern Mozambique is a temporary measure intended to pressure the country’s authorities into securing the problematic Cabo Delgado region from militants, Borges Nhamire, a researcher for Mozambique’s Center of Public Integrity, told Sputnik.
Media reports of Total shutting down operations and evacuating staff from the troubled Mozambique LNG project in the embattled Cabo Delgado province surfaced on Friday, as Mozambican troops clashed with militants from Al-Shabaab group, affiliated with the Islamic State terrorist organisation (banned in Russia), following the group’s occupation of the nearby town of Palma earlier in March.
“They are not withdrawing their activities from Afungi forever; they are withdrawing as a pressure strategy. They are just putting pressure on the government so that the government can accept the conditions they are imposing,” Nhamire stated.
The resumption of works on the Total-operated $20 billion LNG project was announced earlier in March, after the Mozambican government had reportedly implemented the terms of an agreement with the French energy giant to set up a 25-kilometre (over 15 miles) security zone around the natural gas project.
“There is an agreement between Total and the government. The agreement demanded a key issue; that the government must provide security to up to 25km from the site. The government failed to do it, and the attack in Palma means that the government has failed to protect the 25km area from the LNG site, because Palma is located roughly some 10km from Afungi,” Nhamire added.
The agreement to resume operations at the Total-run site was reached by the two parties after works had been suspended by Total in late 2020 over security concerns as clashes intensified in Cabo Delgado, with militants reportedly attacking five towns throughout the region om the course of the past year in a conflict that has left over 2,000 dead and over half a million internally displaced.
