Mozambique President Rejects Rights Abuse Claims in Cabo Delgado
President Daniel Chapo has denied claims of serious human rights violations allegedly committed by security forces in Palma, Cabo Delgado.
The allegations were 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 criminal complaint was filed by the European Centre for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR) against Total Energies. The complaint accused the company of 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.
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.'
Chapo dismissed the allegations as false during a visit to the provincial National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) in Pemba.
InFocus
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The decision by French energy giant TotalEnergies to lift the force majeure on its liquified natural gas project in Mozambique marks the long-awaited restart of gas operations in the troubled Cabo Delgado region. The four-and-a-half-year suspension, however, has added an extra US$4.5 billion to the project's costs.
Although the government has not yet reached an agreement with the company about how the
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An unspecified number of police officers have been reported missing after an attack on a mining site in the country's northern Cabo Delgado province. The raiders, believed to be Islamist militants, set alight various mining equipment, as well as vehicles and motorcycles.
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A French energy giant has faced allegations of complicity in war crimes over a 2021 massacre near its multibillion-dollar gas project in northern Mozambique, claims the company denied. In a complaint filed with French prosecutors, the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR) accused TotalEnergies of complicity in war crimes, including the torture and execution of dozens of civilians held by local
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Mozambican President Daniel Chapo.
