- The chairperson of TotalEnergies announced last week that almost 80% of the US$14 billion needed for the mega gas project in Cabo Delgado is guaranteed and that he will be meeting Mozambique’s next president this month in Maputo.
- But right now Mozambique’s post-election protests have turned violent with uprisings across the country over claims of a rigged election.
- Logistics company Grindrod has suspended port and terminal operations in Mozambique after South Africa temporarily closed the main border with its northeastern neighbour over safety concerns after a violent crackdown on the post-election protests.
- At least 18 people have been killed in the protests, human rights groups have said, as opposition supporters demonstrate against what they say is a fraudulent election win by Frelimo, the party that has ruled Mozambique since 1975.
At a meeting with investors on Wednesday, the head of the French oil company, Patrick Pouyanné, recognised ‘progress on the ground’ in the fight against terrorism, which in 2021 led TotalEnergies to suspend investment in Cabo Delgado and underlined the ‘alliance’ that Mozambique has with Rwanda, which ensures security in the area where the project is located, on the Afungi peninsula. TotalEnergies called force majeur on the projects in April 2021 due to deadly insurgent attacks in the area. Read more
Pouyanné added at the meeting that the project for that area, ‘inherited from Anadarko’ – TotalEnergies bought that oil company’s 26.5% share in Mozambique LNG (Area 1) in 2019 for $3.9 billion (€3.5 billion), had a “fairly large” financing package of around $14 billion (€12.7 billion), and that of that total, “70 to 80%” is “confirmed” by the financiers.
‘They’re committed to it, and we’re waiting for three of them to confirm their commitment because it’s important. Some of them are in Western countries where, I would say, the position on financing energy projects and oil and gas projects has changed. But they all tell us, repeat to us, that they are committed to the contract they signed. That’s why we’re waiting for the green light for this financing,’ he explained, saying that they are only waiting for this confirmation to “restart the project”.
He insisted that the goal is to start producing Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) in Afungi in 2029, which implies that the project is expected to ‘restart in 2024’.
But right now Mozambique’s post-election protests have turned violent with uprisings across the country. The centre of the Mozambican capital was left with a trail of destruction, with some barricades of protesters, supporters of presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlane, held back by the police.
Paula Cristina Roque writes 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
