– As $20bn Mozambique LNG Project risks financial blow
Mkpoikana Udoma
Port Harcourt — The $20 billion Mozambique LNG project faces fresh financial and reputational turbulence as the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights, ECCHR, on Tuesday filed a criminal complaint in France accusing TotalEnergies of complicity in war crimes, torture and enforced disappearance linked to operations near the company’s gas site in northern Mozambique.
The complaint—filed before France’s National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor, PNAT, comes just days after TotalEnergies announced the lifting of the force majeure imposed on the project since April 2021, even as violent attacks intensify and the company negotiates with Mozambique to cover an additional $4.5 billion in project costs.
At stake is one of Africa’s largest LNG developments, backed by more than 30 global lenders, now entangled in allegations that threaten future financing and insurance support.
“TotalEnergies knew the risks but continued financing armed forces” — ECCHR
ECCHR accused the oil major of directly supporting the Joint Task Force, JTF, a security unit composed of Mozambican soldiers, implicated in the detention, torture and killing of civilians between July and September 2021.
“TotalEnergies knew that the Mozambican armed forces had been accused of systematic human rights violations, yet continued to support them with the only objective to secure its own facility,” said Clara Gonzales of ECCHR. “If companies fuel crimes in conflict zones, they may be complicit and should be held accountable.”
ECCHR said internal company documents show TotalEnergies received reports of violence against civilians by soldiers near its site as early as May 2020.
Despite this, the company continued providing accommodation, food, equipment and direct bonuses to soldiers—bonuses that would only be withdrawn after human rights violations occurred.
Financiers warned: “This must be a red line”
Environmental groups supporting the complaint said the allegations should compel financial institutions to reconsider their exposure to the project.
“The seriousness of these allegations must set a red line for the financial backers of Mozambique LNG,” said Lorette Philippot of Friends of the Earth France. “Banks and export credit agencies did not sign a blank cheque. The UK and Dutch governments, and French banks like Société Générale and Crédit Agricole, must now refuse renewed financial support.”
The project’s public financiers—including UK Export Finance and the Dutch government—have already launched internal reviews following media investigations by Politico, SourceMaterial and Le Monde, though no European judicial authority has opened a case until now.
Communities “have seen no justice” – Justiça Ambiental
Local civil society groups say the filing offers the first real opportunity for accountability.
“Communities have experienced repeated violations of their human rights, yet to date have received no justice,” said Daniel Ribeiro of Justiça Ambiental. “The perpetrators have not faced consequences. This case is an important step toward justice where business interests do not override the rights and lives of local people.”
Second criminal case against TotalEnergies in Mozambique
This is the second criminal complaint the French major faces over its Mozambique operations. In 2023, survivors of the Palma attack accused the company of failing to protect subcontractors during insurgent raids in March and April 2021. A French prosecutor in Nanterre is already investigating TotalEnergies for manslaughter and failure to assist persons in danger.
Another prolonged legal battle could escalate costs and potentially stall long-term financing for Mozambique LNG, already considered one of the world’s largest potential carbon emitters, with projected lifetime emissions of 4.5 billion tonnes of CO₂ equivalent.
As ECCHR pushes for a formal investigation in France, the future of TotalEnergies’ most ambitious African gas project now hinges not only on security conditions in Cabo Delgado, but on whether global financiers remain willing to back a project burdened by accusations of war-time complicity.
