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The northern province of Cabo Delgado, which has significant gas resources, has been the scene of a bloody jihadist rebellion for more than three years.
MAPUTO – French energy giant Total said on Saturday it evacuated some personnel from a major gas project in northern Mozambique after a series of jihadist attacks a few kilometers away.
The northern province of Cabo Delgado, which has significant gas resources, has been the scene of a bloody jihadist rebellion for more than three years.
However, attacks near the gas site on the Afungi peninsula have intensified in recent weeks, several security sources told AFP. Afungi is home to the € 16.5 billion ($ 20 billion) project.
“The Mozambique LNG Project led by Total has temporarily reduced its on-site workforce in response to the prevailing environment, including the current challenges associated with COVID-19 and the security situation in northern Cabo Delgado,” the company said it’s a statement.
He did not say how many people were involved, but said that around 3,000 people were working at the site at the end of December, most of them employed by contractors.
A security source said the company was trying to move about 100 people to the capital, Maputo, and several airlines were calculating how many flights would be needed to evacuate all the expatriate workers.
Several local workers have also been told to stay home until further requested, according to several employees and security sources.
December raids
Military sources say that the jihadists carried out at least four raids in December within a few kilometers of the gas project, which is still under construction and will not be put into operation until 2024.
In recent days, it has been reported that members of an armed group known locally as Al-Shabaab, which has sworn allegiance to the Islamic State group but has no known ties to the group of the same name operating in Somalia, headed towards Afungi .
Rebels and security forces were involved in a shooting Friday night in the village of Quitupo, which is located at the gas site, a security source said.
The rebel fighters were killed, but this is the first time fighting has occurred on the 7,000 hectare site itself.
A few days earlier, the rebels launched several attacks on the village of Monjane, just five kilometers from the gas project site, which is heavily guarded.
The fighting in the north of the country has already claimed 2,400 lives and forced 570,000 people to flee their homes, according to the government.
More than half of the dead were civilians, says the nonprofit ACLED, which tracks data related to armed conflict.
Total is the main investor in the gas project and owns 26.5 percent of the shares. Six other international companies also participate.
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