An international rights group has filed a legal complaint accusing TotalEnergies of enabling grave abuses at its gas project in Mozambique.
The European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights submitted the case to France’s anti-terrorism prosecutor, alleging the company was complicit in war crimes committed by local troops between July and September 2021.
The NGO says soldiers assigned to protect the liquefied natural gas site in Cabo Delgado tortured and killed civilians while fighting jihadist militants.
It claims internal documents show TotalEnergies knew of violence by Mozambican forces as early as May 2020 yet continued providing support.
TotalEnergies said it had not been notified of the complaint and firmly rejected the accusations, insisting it requested an official investigation in 2024 that Mozambican prosecutors opened the following year.
Politico reported that soldiers locked up to 250 civilians in metal containers for three months, accusing them of aiding jihadists, with only 26 survivors.
ECCHR’s Clara Gonzales said companies operating in conflict zones cannot act as neutral actors if they enable crimes for the sake of protecting assets.
Mozambique LNG, which runs the site, said it had no knowledge of the alleged events and no evidence that such abuses occurred.
Last month, activist groups accused TotalEnergies of holding Mozambique “hostage” over demands for favourable conditions to restart the stalled project, in which the company holds a 26.5-percent stake.
TotalEnergies hopes to resume production in 2029 but requires government approval for a revised budget that includes $4.5 billion in delay-related overruns.