French energy giant TotalEnergies, a major player in the African energy sector, has been embroiled in a disturbing controversy. The company had contracted Mozambican soldiers to safeguard their natural gas project in northern Mozambique, a project hailed as Africa’s largest private investment. However, these very forces, tasked with protection, have been accused of perpetrating horrific acts against local villagers.
In 2021, as Mozambique’s military battled Islamist insurgents in the northern Cabo Delgado region, a wave of violence engulfed the Afungi peninsula. Seeking refuge from the conflict, villagers found themselves caught in a deadly cycle of abuse and violence at the hands of the government forces hired by TotalEnergies. A report by Politico, published in September 2023, sheds light on the harrowing ordeal faced by these innocent civilians.
The report details how a commando unit, led by an officer claiming to protect “the project of Total,” detained between 180 and 250 villagers, accusing them of being insurgents without any known evidence. These men were then subjected to brutal treatment, including starvation, torture, and beatings, inside shipping containers near the gates of the gas plant.
The horrors didn’t stop there. Women were separated from the men and children, and at least one woman was gang-raped. The men were held captive for three months in the containers, enduring inhumane conditions characterized by extreme heat, lack of food, and cramped spaces. The lack of basic sanitation forced them to soil themselves. They were subjected to prolonged starvation and thirst, only receiving a fistful of rice and a sip of water from a bottle cap after days of deprivation. Witnesses claim that only 26 men survived this ordeal, with others succumbing to suffocation or execution. Some prisoners, under the guise of “trash collection” tasks, were led away and killed.
While TotalEnergies has denied knowledge of these atrocities, claiming their role was limited to funding the Joint Task Force, internal reports reveal a different story. These documents indicate that the company was aware of the military’s history of abuses, including extortion, torture, and intimidation of civilians. Despite this knowledge, TotalEnergies chose to continue its partnership with the Mozambican military, leaving innocent villagers vulnerable to unimaginable suffering.
This revelation has sparked potential legal challenges for TotalEnergies, raising questions about their responsibility for the actions of the Mozambican military. The Mozambican government has remained silent on the incident. Meanwhile, countless villagers continue to grapple with the trauma of their ordeal, living in fear that their suffering will be ignored in favor of economic interests tied to the lucrative gas project. This story highlights the complex ethical challenges faced by multinational corporations operating in conflict zones, and the urgent need for greater accountability for human rights violations committed by their partners.
