PARIS (Reuters) – Mozambique LNG, TotalEnergies’ liquefied natural gas (LNG) production site, is not aware of any alleged massacres of civilians perpetrated in 2021 by Mozambican soldiers, as Politico reported on Thursday.
Mozambican soldiers, working for the site located on the Afungi Peninsula in northern Mozambique, allegedly kidnapped, raped and killed dozens of civilians during the summer of 2021, according to the online media outlet.
The gas project led by TotalEnergies in Mozambique, as part of a consortium, was interrupted after a jihadist attack in 2021.
The consortium also includes the Japanese Mitsui (20%), the Mozambican state-owned company ENH (15%), the Thai company PTTEP (8.5%) and the Indian companies ONGC Videsh (16%), Bharat Petroleum (10%). and Oil India Ltd (4%).
According to Politico, the soldiers allegedly sequestered a group of 180 to 250 civilians – who were fleeing fighting between the army and jihadists – in two containers located on the gas site, separating the men from the women and children.
They allegedly detained the men for three months and beat, starved and tortured them before executing some of them.
“Mozambique LNG wishes to clearly state that it has no knowledge of the events in question (…) and that it has never received information indicating that such events actually took place,” reports TotalEnergies in a press release.
“During the period from April to November 2021 (…) no member of Mozambique LNG staff was on the Afungi site,” added the site management, cited by TotalEnergies.
The group nevertheless says it treats these accusations with the greatest seriousness.
Mozambique’s defense ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
TotalEnergies is the target of an investigation opened in October 2023 by the Nanterre public prosecutor’s office (Hauts-de-Seine) for “involuntary homicide” and “failure to assist a person in danger” during the 2021 jihadist attack in Mozambique, at the following a complaint filed by survivors and families of victims.
(Written by Kate Entringer, with America Hernandez in Paris and Manuel Mucari in Maputo, edited by Sophie Louet)
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