Total has evacuated employees from the gas site where it is involved, in northern Mozambique, after a series of jihadist attacks just a few kilometers from the 16.5 billion euros megaproject, the French group announced on Saturday.
The province of Cabo Delgado, in the north – a strategic location for the exploitation of natural gas – has been in the grip of a bloody Islamist insurgency for more than three years. But in recent weeks, attacks near the site of the Afungi peninsula have increased, according to several security sources to AFP.
“The LNG (liquefied natural gas, editor’s note) project in Mozambique, led by Total, has temporarily reduced its workforce on site in response to the current situation, in particular the persistent challenges associated with COVID-19 and the security situation in the north de Cabo Delgado, ”Total told AFP, without specifying the number of employees evacuated.
According to a security source in Mozambique, the French group is trying to relocate at least a hundred people to the capital of Maputo.
And several airlines “are in the process of determining how many flights would be necessary to evacuate all the expatriate employees”.
Several local employees have also been invited to stay at home until further notice, according to several employees and security sources.
At least four attacks during the month of December, a few kilometers from the gas project which is due to see the light of day in 2024, have been confirmed by military sources.
In recent days, members of armed groups referred to locally as Al-Shabab (“Youth”, in Arabic), and who have pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group, have been spotted driving towards Afungi.
Friday night, around 8 p.m. GMT, a shooting broke out between insurgents and security forces in the village of Quitupo, on the gas site, according to a security source. The insurgents have been shot, but this is the first time that an incident has occurred on the 7,000 hectares of the project.
A few days earlier, insurgents had repeatedly attacked the small village of Monjane, just five kilometers from the site.
Violence in northern Mozambique has caused an exodus of some 570,000 people, according to the government. The conflict has left 2,400 dead, more than half of them civilians, according to the NGO ACLED.
Total is the main investor in the gas project in northern Mozambique, in which it holds a 26.5% stake. Six other international companies are participating in the project.