Mozambique attack survivors file complain against energy giant Total Energies

 

Survivors and relatives of victims of a 2021 insurgent attack in Mozambique have filed a complaint against Total Energies TTEF.PA for negligence and indirect manslaughter, saying the company had failed to ensure the safety of subcontractors.

Total Energies rejected the allegations, saying they were “inaccurate.”

Islamist insurgents attacked the port city of Palma in March 2021, killing many civilians in areas close to Mozambique LNG infrastructure projects, owned in part by Total Energies.

The plaintiffs – including three survivors and four relatives of victims who died in an ambush – allege that Total Energies failed to inform subcontractors of the risks of possible attacks or of the progress of such attacks, and did not have proper safety or evacuation plans in place.

The complaint alleges that a private security company’s helicopter rescuing people who had taken refuge in a hotel was stopped due to a lack of fuel, and that Total Energies had refused a request for fuel on the grounds of not wanting to be associated with a private security company.

Some subcontractors tried to escape from the hotel with a convoy of vehicles, which was then ambushed, leaving several dead, the plaintiffs said.

“It’s quite rare to presume that a company could be indicted and prosecuted for indirect manslaughter … But here you have a series of negligences that contributed to a situation that allowed the loss of many lives,” said Henri Thulliez, a lawyer who represents the plaintiffs.

“It is not alleged that Total Energies directly caused the deaths of victims but that the company did not act in accordance with the expected diligence standards of a professional in its responsibilities,” lawyers for the plaintiffs said in a statement.

Total Energies denied the allegations, saying it did have a security plan and had carried it out.

“During the attack on the city of Palma, and according to the information we have, all Mozambique LNG personnel and their contractors and subcontractors were evacuated,” TotalEnergies said.

The company said the Mozambique LNG group’s security plan was for the subcontractors to shelter in place and be evacuated by ferry.

Total Energies said the security situation had improved in the region, where it plans to restart the project before the end of the year.

Source: Reuters

The Continuadores organization is celebrating 37 years since its inception.

This Tuesday marks the 37th anniversary of the founding of the Continuadores de Moçambique Organization.

The Frelimo party congratulated 

 the organization for its work on behalf of children in a message received in our newsroom on the occasion of the date.

Citizens have urged to safeguard children from ills such as child trafficking, terrorism, sexual abuse, and domestic violence in the same document.

Mozambique: Displacement Tracking Matrix – Emergency Tracking Tool (ETT) Report: No. 170 / (10 – 16 August 2022)

Infographic Download here

During the reporting period (10 to 16 August 2022), a total of 76 movements were recorded – 49 arrivals (12,234 individuals), 15 departures (272 individuals), 11 returns (1,094 individuals), and 1 transit (54 individuals). 

The largest arrival movements were recorded in Metuge (11,304 individuals), Macomia (271 individuals), and Meluco (202 individuals). 

The largest departure movements were recorded in Nangade (170 individuals). 

The largest return movement was observed in Palma (672 individuals) and Quissanga (378 individuals). The only transit movement was observed in Mueda (54 individuals). Of the total population, 3 per cent of mobile groups were displaced for the first time, and 86 per cent for a second time.

Mozambique: Human rights federation condemns threats against NGO activist.

Mozambique: Human rights federation condemns threats against NGO activist.

File photo: DW

The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) on Tuesday condemned alleged threats to Mozambican activist Adriano Nuvunga, demanding a “rapid investigation into the case”, the organisation said in a statement.

On the 15th, Adriano Nuvunga, director of the non-governmental organisation (NGO) Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD) found two AK-47 bullets, one of which bearing his name, in the backyard of his residence, he told Lusa.

“Surveillance cameras show that the bullets were thrown into my residence by two men, who then ran away. This was around 05:00 [minus one in Lisbon] on Monday morning,” he said.

In the statement, FIDH demands that the clarification of the episode be “swift, open and transparent” and that the perpetrators be “brought to justice”.

Noting that the activist reported the incident to the National Criminal Investigation Service (Sernic) in due time, the international organisation noted that “regrettably Mozambique has an unfortunate history of impunity for attacks against human rights defenders”.

“ This macabre act takes place within the context of increasing closure of civic space and attempts to block the activities of civil society organizations in the country,” reads the statement.

The incident, it continues, also demonstrates a growing pattern of alleged politically motivated violence against Professor Nuvunga.

The organisation recalls that in 2020 the activist received threats through anonymous phone calls from three unidentified persons, who said that a bomb had been been planted at his home.

“We therefore urge the security forces in Mozambique to promptly and impartially investigate this matter, as all these incidents cannot be looked at in isolation.,” says FIDH.

The human rights activists note that the threat to Adriano Nuvunga’s life comes at a time where he has been critical of the manner in which the government is responding to the ongoing social unrest in the country, as a result of the worsening economic situation in Mozambique.

As well as being director of the CDD, Nuvunga is one of the most vocal and critical voices in Mozambican civil society, has also directed the Centre for Public Integrity (CIP) and is a professor of political science at the Eduardo Mondlane University (UEM), the oldest higher education institution in Mozambique.

Source: Lusa

Attacks: Analysts advocate independent investigation into allegations of abuse

"We hope that the State will respond as soon as possible because there are conditions to appoint an independent, credible, serious and multi-stakeholder commission to verify what has happened and what is happening in Cabo Delgado", defended the director of the Center for Democracy and Development (CDD), Mozambican civil society organization, Adriano Nuvunga.

 The European Commission found on Thursday “extremely shocking” the recent report by Amnesty International (AI) on human rights violations in northern Mozambique that the organization attributes to the Defense and Security Forces (SDS), calling for a “transparent investigation” and effective ”. The Government leaves the door open for inquiries, but has said that the videos on which the allegations are based are "propaganda" of the insurgents facing Mozambique. "The pressure is increasing, we hope and call on the State to respond positively and create conditions as soon as possible," said Nuvunga

. Speaking to the Moza Eye, the journalist and analyst Fernando Lima said that the Mozambican state "can only gain" from the investigation, as this will allow "the suspicions and pressure" of national and international organizations to be removed. “If the State wants to distance itself seriously and in practice, it must allow an investigation”, underlined Lima. Borges Nhamire, a researcher at the Center for Public Integrity (CIP), considers that the investigations carried out by the Government “do nothing”, recalling other cases that occurred in the country, and that, according to Nhamire, “had no results”

. “This country is full of investigations that have no results. To get concrete information out there has to be an independent investigation ”, he reiterated. For analysts, there is increasing evidence and reports of human rights violations resulting from the armed conflict in Cabo Delgado, calling for conditions to be created to clarify them “once and for all”. "The only way to clarify this is to pave the way for an independent investigation into this type of situation, to dispel all possible doubts", defended the president of the National Commission for Human Rights (CNDH) of Mozambique, Luís Bitone. 

 Cabo Delgado is the northernmost coastal province of Mozambique, home of mega-projects for natural gas exploration and facing a humanitarian crisis with more than 1,000 dead and 250,000 internally displaced - the result of three years of armed conflict between Mozambican and rebel forces, whose attacks have already been claimed by the Islamic State 'jihadist' group, but whose origin remains unclear. AI and Human Rights Watch (HRW) are among the organizations that have called for an investigation into the acts captured on video that show alleged members of Mozambican forces torturing and even executing others on the war stage in Cabo Delgado. 

 The Mozambican government has already repudiated the images and declared itself open to investigating the circumstances, classifying the videos as propaganda for the "terrorist" forces that reach the northern province and use the FDS uniforms to record them. On Tuesday, the Mozambican Interior Minister, Amade Miquidade, said that the government suspects that there is a nucleus that produces disinformation to denigrate the SDS and said that an investigation is underway to find out "where is the nucleus for preparing these videos" .

Human rights in Mozambican jails

Minister of Justice, Constitutional and Religious Affairs, Abdurremane de Almeida gave as an example of human rights violations the overcrowding in jails in Maputo. Violation of human rights in
detention centers is a reality. The Minister of Justice, Constitutional and Religious affairs Abdurremane Lino deAlmeida, said Wednesday that the prison sector is the most vulnerable when it comes to the protection of human rights in the country. The minister was speaking at the public presentation of the preliminary report to the Human Rights Council Universal Periodic Review and recognized cases of overcrowding chains and other poor conditions of confinement,
situations that threaten human rights.The source pointed out that there are jails arriving to house three times over capacity as a major concern of the Government, taking into account the need for improvement in the protection of human rights.