Total accused of involuntary manslaughter over 2021 Mozambique attack

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TotalEnergies has been accused of involuntary manslaughter by survivors of a 2021 terrorist attack in Mozambique that killed dozens of people and forced the company to halt Africa’s biggest natural gas development.

A criminal complaint filed with French prosecutors this week alleges that Total “failed to take necessary measures to ensure the safety of subcontractors” in the southern African nation’s gas-rich Cabo Delgado province when they came under attack from Islamist insurgents.

The public prosecutor’s office in the Parisian suburb of Nanterre, where Total is based, can either reject the complaint or open a preliminary inquiry ahead of any decision to proceed with a prosecution. Such cases can take years to advance through the French justice system.

Total declined to comment on the claim, which it said it had not seen, but said its evacuation plans had included subcontractors as well as its own staff and civilians.

The March 2021 attack in Palma, a town close to where Total was developing a $20bn liquefied natural gas project, has undermined Total’s ambitions to develop LNG in Mozambique. The company suspended work on the project following the incident and has only recently signalled that it could soon restart the investment.

Analysts believe the death toll in the attack might have been much higher than the dozens officially reported. A survey team commissioned by journalist Alex Perry concluded that about 1,200 civilians may have died in the assault, based on witness accounts.

An estimated 4,700 people have been killed in fighting in Cabo Delgado in the past six years, according to the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project, with tens of thousands displaced as Islamist insurgents have sought to overthrow Mozambique’s secular government.

The seven individuals behind the complaint, including three former subcontractors who survived a bloody hotel siege in Palma and four relatives of victims, also accuse Total of “failure to assist a person in danger”.

The complainants allege that the company failed to warn subcontractors of the attack, lacked a proper security plan for evacuating the LNG project, and refused to give fuel to a South African private security contractor that attempted a helicopter rescue after the assault took place.

Dyck Advisory Group, which worked for the Mozambican state, airlifted contractors and officials from the besieged hotel during the attack, but many had to risk escaping by convoy.

The complaint also cites a February report to the Dutch parliament alleging flaws in Total’s security planning and emergency procedures around the LNG project, for which the Dutch export credit agency provided financing.

There has been no full Mozambican investigation into what happened.

Before the Palma attack, a human rights consultant said in a 2020 report commissioned by Total that its LNG project had “ultimately . . . the lead role in co-ordination and oversight” of assessing security and human rights risks.

Total said it was “inexact” to suggest it had not had a plan for subcontractors. It said all project staff, including contractors and subcontractors, had been instructed to remain inside the perimeter of the LNG project and that 2,500 people had been successfully evacuated from this area, mainly by boat.

It added it had not been informed that its subcontractors were at the besieged hotel, which was outside the perimeter.

Total said Dyck had been hired by the Mozambique government to support “offensive” military operations rather than provide security, and that advocacy groups had accused Dyck in 2020 of carrying out attacks that had affected civilians. As a result, Total decided not to support or contribute to any of Dyck’s operations, it said.

Dyck, which has said it has investigated the claims, denies any wrongdoing.

The assault on Palma was a turning point in the insurgency by Mozambique’s al-Shabaab group as it marked the first killings of foreign contractors since attacks began in 2017.

It also led President Filipe Nyusi’s government to invite troops from Rwanda and a regional force to restore security.

These forces have pushed back the insurgents from the LNG development zone and key towns.

Patrick Pouyanné, Total’s chief executive, told investors last month that the LNG project may be able to restart by the end of the year because of an improvement in the security environment.

Eni and ExxonMobil have been developing an even larger, $30bn onshore development in Mozambique but are yet to make a final investment decision.