Extremist rebels in the Cabo Delgado province of northern Mozambique killed a worker for the international charity Doctors Without Borders, shortly after a former vice-president of the organization was asked to produce a report on the humanitarian situation in the region affected by the conflict.
Mozambique’s extremist Islamic insurgency, which began in October 2017, is blamed for the deaths of more than 3,000 people and the displacement of some 900,000 people. In March 2021, rebel violence forced the French company TotalEnergies to suspend its $20 billion liquefied natural gas project in the north of the province. TotalEnergies invoked force majeure after insurgents attacked the city of Palma, very close to the gas project.
Palma was later recaptured by Mozambican and Rwandan forces and the government urged TotalEnergies to resume work on the gas project.
ISIS MILITANTS WREAK HAvoc IN MOZAMBIQUE, KILLING OVER 1,000 IN INSURGENCY
Last week, TotalEnergies CEO Patrick Pouyanne made a whirlwind visit to Mozambique during which he inspected the gas project site and Palma, as well as the port city of Mocímboa da Praia, once an insurgent stronghold. . Pouyanne then dined with Mozambique President Filipe Nyusi in Pemba, the capital of Cabo Delgado province, before flying out later that day.
The President of Mozambique, Filipe Nyusi, shakes hands with the CEO of TotalEnergies, Patrick Pouyanne. Mozambique has become a hotbed for Islamic insurgents, some of whom killed a representative of Doctors Without Borders after the NGO inspected the humanitarian situation in their region. (Mozambican Presidency Photo via AP)
At the end of the CEO’s visit, TotalEnergies announced the appointment of Jean-Christophe Rufin, “a recognized expert in humanitarian action and human rights,” to undertake “an independent mission to assess the humanitarian situation in the province of Cabo Delgado.” Rufin is a former vice president of Doctors Without Borders, known by its French acronym, MSF, and former president of the non-governmental organization Action Against Hunger. Rufin also served as French ambassador to the Gambia and Senegal, appointed by then-Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, one of MSF’s co-founders.
Rufin’s report is due by the end of February and TotalEnergies said it will help him and his consortium partners in the gas project “decide whether the conditions are met to resume project activities.”
“The lifting of force majeure and the resumption of activities at the Mozambique LNG project site require, in particular, the restoration of security in the region, the resumption of public services and the return to normal life of the population of the region. Pouyanne said.
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But while Mozambique’s armed forces and their regional allies have made progress, the rebels are still capable of carrying out deadly attacks, including on the main north-south highway linking the city of Pemba to the Palma gas project. .
On February 1, two vans and a minibus were attacked south of the city of Macomia, killing about seven people, including a nurse, and wounding seven others. The vehicles were charred on the road, local outlet Zitamar News reported.
Then on February 4, a day after Pouyanne’s visit, another attack hit the same stretch of road. An MSF staff member, on his day off, was fatally injured while traveling by public transport to visit his family in Pemba, MSF announced. The man was a driver in Macomia for MSF, which he joined in 2019. He is survived by his wife and his five children.
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ʺToday we are grieving because we lost a colleague who, like all staff, is fully committed to helping displaced families and often faces significant risks,’ said Federica Nogarotto, MSF mission director in Mozambique. “This is a very sad day for us and for our team.”
