- Reuters reports that Mozambique’s new leadership is not looking to review contract terms with energy majors like TotalEnergies and ExxonMobil who are planning multibillion-dollar liquefied natural gas projects in the country.
Referring to TotalEnergies’ $20 billion project in the restive Cabo Delgado province, which has been on hold since 2021 when an Islamist insurgency threatened the site, Chapo said the government was not able to review terms because the French company was not yet producing gas. “They are currently making investments, the contracts are new, that’s why for these cases there is no place for reviewing contracts, because they haven’t even come into force yet, in terms of operation,” he told Reuters in an interview.
Chapo has appointed Estevao Pale as the country’s new energy and mineral resources minister. Pale was appointed chairman of Mozambique’s national oil company ENH in 2020.
TotalEnergies and ExxonMobil are looking to resume construction of their LNG projects soon as the security situation in Cabo Delgado has improved despite sporadic insurgent attacks continuing
Post election political unrest
Protesters are contesting the results of the 9 October elections, which allowed the ruling Frelimo party to extend its 49-year rule. Daniel Chapo, the Frelimo candidate, was officially declared the winner of the elections with over 71% of the vote. The protests, primarily led by young people, have resulted in violent clashes with the police, mass prison breaks, and at least 248 deaths.
Mozambique’s main opposition leader, Venancio Mondlane, returned from self-imposed exile earlier this month saying he still rejects the results of a disputed election. Chapo was sworn in as president last week.
Paula Cristina Roquewrites that Mozambique is not experiencing a coup – “it’s a people’s revolution of unprecedented proportions demanding electoral truth and justice for assassinated activists. It’s a march against poverty, exclusion, violence, and the arrogance of a ruling party that decides, without consent, the fate of 33 million people, denying them a voice, a platform, a role in the democracy that camouflages Frelimo with a mantle of credibility.
Mozambique’s ruling party has lost legitimacy, it’s in disarray and without a political solution to the post-election crisis sparked by mass fraud. It’s time for Frelimo to step down and begin a transition of power where opposition parties led by Podemos, and civil society can recalibrate governance and open the way for a new political order based on the rule of law, socioeconomic justice, and accountability.” Read more
Author: Bryan Groenendaal
