Beaten, starved, and tortured: Troops guarding TotalEnergies' project killed villagers fleeing Islamic insurgents

French energy giant TotalEnergies had enlisted the help of Mozambican soldiers to safeguard its natural gas project in northern Mozambique in Africa. But these government forces reportedly strayed far away from their mandate, becoming the nightmare for desperate villagers.

A report by Politico published earlier on Thursday (September 26) reveals that soldiers hired by TotalEnergies detained, tortured, and killed over 150 men from local villages.

The atrocities took place in 2021 during a military operation to retake the Afungi peninsula from ISIS-linked insurgents, who had attacked the nearby town of Palma. Despite the military’s mission to protect the gas facility, villagers seeking refuge were caught in a deadly cycle of abuse and violence at the hands of government forces.

What happened?

In 2021, as Mozambique’s military forces battled Islamist insurgents in the country’s northern Cabo Delgado region, villagers near the Afungi peninsula found themselves trapped in a harrowing situation.

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They had come near the plant seeking refuge from the ongoing conflict. However, a commando unit led by an officer who said his mission was to protect “the project of Total” detained between 180 and 250 villagers, accusing them of being insurgents.

Whether they had any proof of this is not known.

Torture, killing, and rape

The soldiers separated the men from women and children, subjecting the men to brutal treatment, including starvation, torture, and beatings, in shipping containers near the gates of a gas plant operated by French energy company TotalEnergies. At least one woman was gang-raped.

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Victims reported that the men were held for three months in the containers, where the extreme heat, lack of food, and cramped conditions made survival nearly impossible. The men soiled themselves as there were no toilets in the containers. The soldiers starved the prisoners of food and water for days. When they did finally give them sustenance, it was limited to a fistful of rice and a sip of water from a bottle cap, Politico reported.

Witnesses claim that only 26 men survived the ordeal, with others succumbing to suffocation or execution. Some prisoners, under the pretext of being assigned to “trash collection” tasks, were led away to be killed.

TotalEnergies’ role

The atrocities took place against the backdrop of a major natural gas project that was once heralded as Africa’s largest private investment, involving TotalEnergies and other international partners.

While the company evacuated its staff and contractors during the Islamist attacks, the Mozambican military, including a Joint Task Force supported by TotalEnergies, remained in charge of securing the gas plant and the surrounding area.

The company denies knowledge of the atrocities, stating they had no physical presence on the ground during the events and claiming their role was limited to funding the Joint Task Force to secure the plant. However, internal reports from TotalEnergies indicate that the company was aware of the military’s history of abuses, which included extortion, torture, and intimidation of civilians.

TotalEnergies now faces potential legal challenges, as questions persist about their responsibility for the Mozambican military’s actions.

The Mozambican government has not commented on the incident

Many villagers, meanwhile, are still grappling with the trauma of what they endured, living in fear that their plight will be ignored in favor of economic interests tied to the lucrative gas project.