French energy giant Total will resume construction of its $ 20 billion liquefied natural gas (LNG) development in Mozambique after the government increased security, the company said on Wednesday.
In January, following a nearby attack, Total withdrew most of its workforce from its place in Mozambique’s northernmost province, Cabo Delgado, where there has been an uprising since 2017, now linked to the so-called Central African Province (ISCAP) in Daesh’s terrorist group. .
The company asked the government for additional security measures, including a 25-kilometer (15.53-mile) secure buffer zone around the site.
It said on Wednesday that this had now been completed, which enabled a “gradual rebuilding” of the project’s workforce and a resumption of construction work.
“The Mozambican government has declared the area within a 25-kilometer radius surrounding Mozambique’s LNG project as a special security area,” Total said in a statement.
It added that other measures, including the strengthening of security infrastructure and the strengthening of Mozambique’s security forces, had also been implemented.
In total, it said control of the 25-kilometer zone remains guaranteed exclusively by Mozambique’s public security forces, and that the government had pledged that the staff assigned to protect the project would act in line with international human rights standards.
Amnesty International this month accused both government forces and insurgents of committing war crimes in the province, where insurgents have intensified their attacks over the past year.
In 2020, the group began to regularly take over entire cities.
The conflict has killed more than 2,500 people, according to the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED), a consulting firm that tracks political violence.
About 700,000 more have been forced out of their homes, according to UN estimates.
In August last year, Total E&P Mozambique Area 1, operator of the LNG project, said it had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Government of Mozambique regarding the security of the project’s activities in the country’s northernmost province.
The pact, without giving details, is said to ensure that Total provides logistical support to a joint working group set up to ensure the security of Mozambique’s LNG project activities in the area.
It was interpreted at the time as a step that could jeopardize the reputation of the French oil giant in exchange for securing its investment area. A report published by the global intelligence agency Stratfor on August 25 said that the security agreement between the African country and Total would reduce threats to Total’s projects in Palma and the Afungi Peninsula but without compromising militant capabilities across the region and leaving the rest of Cabo Delgado vulnerable to insurgency. attacks.
The company, meanwhile as one of the victims of the coronavirus pandemic, which reduced global energy needs, reported a net loss of $ 7.2 billion by 2020, according to February data, compared to a profit of $ 11.2 billion the year before.
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