A French energy firm is confronting serious accusations of involvement in war crimes — allegations it rejects — over a deadly attack that occurred near its multibillion-dollar gas development in northern Mozambique in 2021.
A human rights organisation has submitted a complaint to French prosecutors, claiming that TotalEnergies was complicit in war crimes that included the torture and execution of numerous civilians allegedly detained by local security forces inside a group of shipping containers located within the company’s compound.
The company has consistently denied any responsibility for actions carried out by government forces or associated security units that were assigned to protect the Afungi peninsula gas complex.
At the time, the project represented the largest foreign investment initiative on the African continent.
The complaint was lodged by the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR).
“Companies and their executives are not neutral actors when they operate in conflict zones. If they enable or fuel crimes, they might be complicit and should be held accountable,” said Clara Gonzales, the ECCHR’s co-programme director for business and human rights.
The killings took place in Cabo Delgado, a province rich in natural resources, where state security forces were attempting to defeat extremist fighters linked to the Islamic State group — militants known for brutal beheadings and other atrocities.
In March 2021, Islamist fighters stormed the besieged town of Palma, killing or abducting 1,563 civilians who lived near TotalEnergies’ gas installation on the remote Afungi peninsula, according to Alex Perry.
The investigative writer was the first to report on both the scale of the Palma massacre and the subsequent retaliatory killings carried out near the entrance of the Total compound, in a work published in 2024.
Perry referred to the events as the “bloodiest disaster in oil and gas history”.
Civilians who fled to the company’s facilities seeking safety were allegedly accused of collaborating with militants. Men were separated from the wider group and detained inside metal containers. The precise number of those subsequently killed by Mozambican forces guarding the site remains uncertain. Perry documented 97 victims, though he believes the real death toll may be twice that number.
“Most people have never heard about any of this, in part because Total has acknowledged none of it. Today is a victory for truth, and accountability,” Perry said.
The UK government had originally committed to providing financial guarantees for British businesses hoping to participate in what was described as a transformative economic opportunity for Mozambique.
However, after suspending its support following the violence in Palma, the UK is now under pressure from environmental groups to fully abandon the project, who argue that the severity of the allegations against Total should be a decisive “red line” for any financial supporters of its LNG development.
Total, critics say, “continued to demonstrate that it has learned nothing from the past: it just announced the lifting of the force majeure on its gas project, despite the dramatic security and humanitarian situation”, according to Lorette Philippot from Friends of the Earth France.
She urged the UK and Dutch authorities to “refuse to renew their financial support and withdraw from Mozambique LNG”, citing decisions by several French financial institutions to cut ties with the project.
Those who back TotalEnergies’ commitment to proceed with the massive development argue that the venture has the potential to deliver major economic benefits to a region long deprived of investment.
Opponents, however, describe it as a catastrophe in environmental, ethical, and economic terms. They also compare the company’s challenges to a separate controversy involving another major French firm, Lafarge, which is currently facing trial alongside several former executives over accusations that it funded jihadist groups in Syria to keep a cement plant operational.
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