Maputo — Mozambican President Daniel Chapo on Saturday denied claims of serious human rights violations allegedly committed by the Mozambican defence and security forces in Palma district, in the northern province of Cabo Delgado.
The allegations were initially published in the London-based publication "Politico', on 26 September, in an article entitled: "All must be beheaded: revelation of atrocities at French energy giant's African stronghold'.
The claims reached a wider audience when the European Centre for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR) filed a criminal complaint against the French company, Total Energies, for alleged complicity in war crimes, torture and enforced disappearances against civilians in Cabo Delgado, where the company heads the Mozambique LNG Project, located on the Afungi peninsula, in Palma.
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The criminal complaint, filed in France, claims that "the company directly financed and materially supported the Joint Task Force, set up by the Mozambican Armed Forces (FADM), which between July and September 2021 allegedly detained, tortured and killed dozens of civilians on TotalEnergies' gas site. The complaint has been filed with the French National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor (PNAT), which also has a mandate to investigate international crimes.'
The complaint centres on the so-called "container massacre' at the company's Afungi facility. These allegations which were first reported in September 2024.
It is claimed that the JTF kept dozens of civilians in metallic containers, where they were starved, beaten and tortured. At least five people were killed, and several are still missing.
"The civilians were fleeing their home villages as a result of attacks by Al-Shabab (as the jihadists are known in Cabo Delgado) when they were intercepted by the army. According to reported allegations, detainees were tortured, subjected to enforced disappearance and some of them executed. In September 2021, the final 26 detainees were released", reads the ECCHR statement.
The Joint Task Force was established through a 2020 memorandum between TotalEnergies' Mozambique subsidiary and the Mozambican government as a dedicated security unit to protect the Mozambique LNG project operations.
According to the ECCHR, TotalEnergies knew that the Mozambican forces had been accused of systematic human rights violations yet continued to support them with the sole purpose of securing its own facility.
Chapo denied the claim of atrocities during a visit on Saturday to the premises of the provincial delegation of the National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) in the Cabo Delgado provincial capital, Pemba.
Here Chapo was briefed on the actions under way to protect and promote fundamental rights in the province.
Apparently the "Politico' allegations were not raised during Chapo's visit. The president told reporters that the claims "are not true'. He said the Attorney-General's Office (PGR), in collaboration with the CNDH and other relevant bodies, had been involved in investigating the claims.
Because the Mozambican government "is committed to consolidating the democratic rule of law', said Chapo, "we thought it very important to open the first provincial delegation of the CNDH in Cabo Delgado'.
The priority given to Cabo Delgado, he added, was "to combat the national and international narrative that questions the observance of human rights in this province'.
"We want to take advantage of this opportunity to say that we are giving priority to Cabo Delgado because we are facing the challenge of terrorism here, and because there is disinformation and manipulation of public opinion claiming there is no respect for human rights'.
Chapo added that, before opening the Pemba CNDH delegation, he had sent a team to Cabo Delgado to conduct a more detailed investigation.
That investigation, he said, had covered the entire province, but particularly the northern districts affected by Islamist terrorism.
Pf/ (611) 1011125E CIVIC SERVICE IS "A SCHOOL OF PATRIOTIC VALUES'
Maputo, 30 Nov (AIM) - The Mozambican Civic Service is not just an alternative to military service, Presidente Daniel Chapo declared on Saturday, in the town of Montepuez, in the northern province of Cabo Delgado.
Speaking at the end of the 13th basic instruction course for civic service providers, Chapo, cited in the independent paper "O Pais', said the civic service "is a school of work, patriotic values and discipline'.
He claimed it is an institution that prepares young Mozambicans "to operate in three essential dimensions of our modern state - local and national economic development, the provision of basic social services, and the strengthening of cohesion and community resilience'.
He claimed that the institution is "a motor of the Mozambican economy', which acts "with humility, with discipline and with concrete results'.
Chapo said the course which has just concluded was not just a piece of technical training, but also "an expression of duty and citizenship, a demonstration that young Mozambicans are ready to contribute actively to national development'.
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During the course, the participants acquired skills in agriculture, livestock and construction. "These are the foundations on which Mozambique is building its economic independence', said Chapo.
He claimed that the civic service is aligned with the government's vision, "as a body that assists productive organisation'. The Civic Service, he added, "should produce, innovate, sustain, and contribute to the national economy and to the welfare of our people. But we must pick up the pace, because we have no time to dawdle, it is time for all of us to run'.
The strategic target, Chapo said, is "to transform the civic service into an institution capable of producing enough to meet its own basic needs, to contribute to the food security of the armed forces, to create local productive chains with an impact on local communities, to reduce the financial dependence of the state, and to support community development projects'.
"This objective is not only administrative', he declared. "It is political. It is economic and patriotic. Because a country only becomes truly independent when it has strong, productive and efficient institutions to promote sustainable development'.
The civic service was set up in 2009. A law passed by the Mozambican parliament that year established the civic service "to complement military service'.
