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The oil company Total withdrew this Friday the rest of the personnel that it maintained in the gas project in northern Mozambique, after the 24th attack on Palma, different sources who accompanied the operations told Lusa.
The full recall includes subcontractors who remained in the area of greatest ongoing private investment in Africa and whose workers left by sea and air, the same sources said.
The Mozambican television channel STV added this Friday that a boat with project personnel must arrive at night in Pemba, the provincial capital, 200 kilometers to the south, just when a plane with 90 people is expected, most of them displaced, without time, transported from the Afungi Airstrip.
According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), Total estimates that there are 23,000 people displaced by the project (Quitunda and Afungi), half a dozen kilometers south of the village.
The area is served by the Mozambique Defense and Security Forces (SDS) who are on the ground to try to regain control of Palma.
Contrary to what had been happening, the United Nations Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS) did not operate this Friday the aircraft that used to carry out five rounds between Pemba and Afungi to rescue the most vulnerable cases among the displaced, said people linked to the reception in Pemba.
Lusa was unable to obtain comment from the United Nations.
Contacted by Lusa, Total sent clarifications about Afungi’s departure and its implications for later.
A spokesman for the Mozambique National Institute for Disaster Management (INGD) admitted that there may be operational “limitations” on the transport of displaced persons, without giving further details, but told Lusa that the agency “continues to fulfill its obligation” to provide assistance to the population and continues to have Total as one of the main partners.
According to the spokesperson, the director of the INGD will begin on Saturday in Cabo Delgado to monitor the transport operations that are still being planned by air and sea, using a ship that this week was transporting displaced people and that will be subject to repairs. .
Total’s total withdrawal from the Palma district comes after an attack on the main town that has caused an undetermined number of deaths and is putting some 10,000 people to flight, in addition to the 23,000 reported by the oil company next to the site. .
The attack contradicted the announcement of a gradual resumption of the works, after a first withdrawal of personnel in January, after another attack in the vicinity.
The start of disbursements by the funders of the Mozambique LNG project is scheduled for the beginning of this month, according to a joint statement by Total with the Mozambican government, issued the day before the attack.
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