Jihadist attacks threaten TotalEnergies’ return

Jihadist insurgents in northern Mozambique have multiplied their attacks in the past weeks, causing mass displacements ahead of the possible resumption of construction on TotalEnergies’ huge natural gas project in the region. According to the Club of Mozambique, a group affiliated with the Islamic State, which has led a bloody insurgency in Cabo Delgado province since 2017, claimed responsibility for seven attacks in the south of the province in late July, including one in which they executed six villagers. Nearly 5 000 people were displaced in the small district of Chiure alone, Sebastian Traficante, who heads the local mission of Doctors Without Borders, told AFP. The region had not seen so many people forced to leave since February 2024, according to UN statistics. The renewed attacks come as TotalEnergies has announced that construction on its $20bn liquefied natural gas project near Palma could restart during the European summer. The project had been stalled since a deadly attack in March 2021 that resulted in over 800 victims, including several of the French energy giant’s subcontractors. Mozambique’s vast offshore natural gas reserves, discovered in 2010, could place the southern African country, where more than 70% of the population lives in poverty, among the top 10 global producers, according to a 2024 report by the consulting group Deloitte.