Mozambique: Gabriel Couto says all workers ‘safe’ and withdrawn from Palma

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Mozambique: Gabriel Couto says all workers ‘safe’ and withdrawn from Palma

9:14 CAT | 30 Mar 2021

File photo: Lusa

The workers of Portuguese company Construções Gabriel Couto, involved in two contracts in Total’s project in Palma, “are all safe and have been removed by boat” from the region, a source from the company told Lusa on Tuesday.

The source said that the company had 20 workers, including 17 locals and three foreigners in Total’s complex in Afungi, Palma district, when armed groups attacked Palma on Wednesday, but all were removed by boat unharmed on Saturday.

“They were never in imminent danger and were always safe in our client’s complex [Total]. I have spoken to all of them, and they are fine, apart from the initial anxiety from the moment the attacks started,” the source added.

The 20 workers were preparing the conditions for the return to the works in Afungi of about 250 colleagues, after the two works were interrupted following an earlier attack in January on the resettlement village of communities removed from the construction zone of Total’s gas development, near the security perimeter of the French multinational’s enterprise.

At the time, Total and all companies involved in the Palma development significantly reduced their staff, but hours before Wednesday’s attack, the French oil company and the Mozambican government issued a joint statement announcing that activities would resume soon.

The source from Construções Gabriel Couto said that the company was hoping and waiting for instructions from Total.

The Portuguese company has two projects in Afungi: constructing a 2,300-metre-long airstrip, passenger terminal, fire station and control tower, and road construction inside the Total complex.

The first venture is in the final stage of construction, and the second is at an intermediate stage.

“We have been in Mozambique for 20 years and identified with the country’s focus on infrastructure construction. We look at the future with hope,” the source said.

In February 2019, a Mozambican driver from Construções Gabriel Couto was murdered by armed men suspected to be linked to the groups that have been terrorising Cabo Delgado province since October 2017.

According to the Mozambican Defence Ministry, dozens of civilians were killed in the attack on the 24th in Palma.

The compound where the gas project’s infrastructure is being erected is about 25 kilometres from the town of Palma and was not hit by the attacks and clashes that followed between the armed groups and the Mozambican Defence and Security Forces.

The violence is causing a humanitarian crisis with almost 700,000 displaced people and more than 2,000 deaths.

The Islamic State terrorist movement claimed on Monday control of the town of Palma, near the border with Tanzania.

Several countries have offered military support on the ground to Maputo to fight these insurgents, whose actions have already been claimed by the self-proclaimed Islamic State, but so far, there has been no opening for this, although there are reports and testimonies that point to security companies and mercenaries in the area.

Source: Lusa