Paris, Nov. 20, 2025 (Lusa) - Oil company TotalEnergies on Thursday rejected accusations of human rights violations at the mega-project in Mozambique, pointing out that all employees had left months before the alleged events and that the armed forces were in control of the region.
"Following the recent filing of a complaint with the National Anti-Terrorist Prosecutor's Office (PNAT) in Paris against unknown persons and TotalEnergies for “complicity in war crimes, torture and enforced disappearances” in Mozambique between July and September 2021, the company, which has not been formally notified of this complaint by the plaintiff, strongly rejects all these accusations," reads a statement from the French oil company.
In the text, TotalEnergies responds to the European Centre for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR), which accuses the multinational of "having directly financed and materially supported the Joint Task Force, composed of the Mozambican armed forces, which, between July and September 2021, allegedly detained, tortured and murdered dozens of civilians at TotalEnergies' gas facilities".
The French oil company pointed out that, "in the context of the deadly terrorist attacks of March 2021 claimed by the “jihadist” group affiliated with the Islamic State (Al-Shabab), the [September 2024] Politico article alleged that Mozambican soldiers committed serious abuses near Mozambique LNG's facilities between June and September 2021".
However, the French company said that "during this period, Mozambique LNG personnel were not present on site, as they had been evacuated at the beginning of April 2021."
After the terrorist attack in Palma in March 2021, "all Mozambique LNG employees were removed from the site," it said, adding that "the Mozambican army subsequently took control of the site in Afungi, the airport and the port, to help restore security to the area."
The company therefore rejects the idea that "it had, or could have had, any knowledge of the acts of violence reported in the Politico article and which underlie the complaint".
As well as rejecting "vehemently and categorically" the accusations contained in the Politico article and the complaint filed this week in Paris, TotalEnergies also takes the opportunity to respond to the newspaper, accusing it of cherry-picking the answers given by the company and not presenting any facts or data to prove that human rights have been violated in TotalEnergies' mega-project in Cabo Delgado.
The ECCHR, founded in 2007, is an independent, non-profit legal and educational organisation that uses the law to protect and enforce civil and human rights.
The complaint filed by this organisation comes after TotalEnergies informed Mozambique's government that it had lifted the “force majeure” situation declared in April 2021 which suspended its $20 billion (€17.2 billion) Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) megaproject in Cabo Delgado due to the terrorist attacks in the province, which is now being resumed.
"TotalEnergies knew that the Mozambican armed forces were accused of systematic human rights violations, but it continued to support them with the sole aim of ensuring that its own facilities were safe," said Clara Gonzales, from the ECCHR, quoted in the statement announcing the filing of the complaint this week.
MBA/ADB // ADB.
Lusa
