Mozambique: French oil giant Total monitoring security situation ‘closely’

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Mozambique: French oil giant Total monitoring security situation ‘closely’

8:23 CAT | 10 Dec 2020

File photo: DW

French oil company Total told Lusa on Thursday that it was “closely monitoring the situation in Cabo Delgado,” following an attack by armed rebels near the megaproject it leads in northern Mozambique.

“The security of the workforce and the activities of the Mozambique LNG project is our top priority,” said the multinational’s official source.

According to the same source, “Total maintains permanent contact with the Mozambican authorities on the matter.

Armed rebels attacked the village of Mute on Monday, less than 25 kilometres from the area where the natural gas processing industrial zone in Area 1 of the Rovuma basin is being built, the biggest private investment in Africa, of around €20 billion.

The attack was responded to by Mozambican forces with the support of helicopters, and they took back control of the village.

As in previous situations, the proximity of the clashes halted teams of several contractors on the site of the gas project, who, however, have now returned to activity, according to local sources in Palma, a coastal village, district headquarters, adjacent to the megaproject.

Also read: Mozambique: Defence Forces repel attack on Mute village – Pinnacle News

Mozambique troops repel Islamists attacking village near gas site – AFP

The armed violence in Cabo Delgado, northern Mozambique, is causing a humanitarian crisis with around 2,000 deaths and 560,000 displaced people with no housing or food, concentrated mainly in the provincial capital, Pemba.

The province has been under insurgent attack for three years and some of the incursions have been claimed by the ‘jihadist’ Islamic state group since 2019.

Source: Lusa