Mozambique: Total Resumes Afungi LNG Site Construction Amid Fresh Rebel Attacks in Cabo Delgado

• Total has announced that the Mozambique LNG Project operated by Total E&P Mozambique Area 1 (TEPMA1), will progressively resume construction activities at the Afungi site, following the implementation of additional site security measures.
• The site was closed and evacuated in early January 2021, after rebel groups making sporadic and violent attacks in the area came close to the compound gates. Read more
• The news by Total to resume construction activities has brought reports of fresh attacks by the rebels in the area of Palma in Cabo Delgado. Read more
• Senior leaders with the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, warned on Monday of the urgent need  to address the growing humanitarian crisis in the Cabo Delgado province in northern Mozambique, where an ongoing  insurgency has uprooted  hundreds of thousands of people.  Read more

After the security events that occurred in December 2020 near the Mozambique LNG project site and led to the temporary demobilization of the project workforce, Total and the Government of Mozambique have worked together to define and implement an action plan with the objective  of reinforcing, in a sustained manner, the security of the Afungi site and of the surrounding area and neighbouring villages.

The Government of Mozambique has declared the area within a 25 km perimeter surrounding the Mozambique LNG Project as a special security area. A comprehensive roadmap, including the reinforcement of the security infrastructure and the strengthening of the public security forces has been defined and implemented, allowing a gradual remobilization of the project workforce and the resumption of LNG plant construction activities as well as community development programs carried out by the project.

The control of the special security area around the Afungi site remains ensured exclusively by public security forces assigned by the Mozambican Ministries of Defense and Interior, under a Memorandum of Understanding signed in July 2020 between the Government of Mozambique and TEPMA1. The Government of Mozambique is committed that the personnel assigned to the protection of Mozambique LNG shall act according to the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights (VPSHR) and international human rights standards. The Mozambique LNG Project, which is in charge of the security of the construction site itself, does not use the services of any armed private security providers.

Moreover, Total announces that Mozambique LNG has satisfied all the conditions precedent and complied with all relevant statutory requirements for the first debt drawdown of the project financing signed on 15th July 2020 with  eight export credit agencies, 19 commercial banks and the African Development Bank. This first drawdown will take place at the beginning of April 2021.

In related news this week, Friends of the Earth (FoE) is asking for an oral hearing at the High Court in its bid to reverse the UK’s support for the Mozambique LNG project. FoE has described the government’s conduct as illegal, given the UK’s obligations under the Paris Agreement on climate change. If a judge approves the complaint at an oral hearing, a full trial will be held later in the year. Read more

The US government recently announced that it has sent special forces to Mozambique to train Mozambique Marine forces to combat the upsurging rebels forces. The US has officially designated the leader of the local insurgency, Abu Yasir Hassan, as a terrorist earlier this month. Read more

The US government EXIM Bank has invested USD 5 Billion in the Mozambique LNG project. Read more

Author: Bryan Groenendaal