- The multinational is offering transport, accommodation, meals and security to those who are inspecting its activities
- Communities are complaining that TotalEnergies has not yet finished paying compensation to those who were removed from their land to make way for the Mozambique LNG project.
For MOZTIMES
Pemba (MOZTIMES) – Some ten activists, representing civil society organisations based in Maputo and Pemba, are in Palma, Cabo Delgado, since last Tuesday, monitoring the rights of the communities affected by the natural gas exploration and exploitation projects in Afungi.
The activists were taken on Monday from Maputo and Pemba to Afungi, on board an aircraft hired by TotalEnergies. They are accommodated in a company camp, and their safety, meals and transport to the communities to monitor the negative and positive impacts caused by the gas prospection and exploitation activities, are guaranteed.
MOZTIMES found that the group includes activists who represent leading civil society organisations working in the extractive sector, including Centro Terra Viva, KUWUKA, the Centre for Public Integrity (CIP), KULIMA, ACCORD, and AENA, among others.
On the first day of work on the ground, on Tuesday, the activists left the TotalEnergies camp in armoured vehicles and escorted by soldiers to interview members of the communities about the impact of the projects.
“We went to see the District Administrator, a resettlement management commission, the Palma community and the Palma platform of civil society organisations”, said one member of the group.
Despite the military escort, which might intimidate the communities, and make it difficult to discuss openly possible violations of their rights by the Government and by TotalEnergies, the activists say they were able to interview the residents, who spoke freely about their problems.
“We spoke freely with the communities, and they did not hold back”, said one activist. “They all complained about almost the same things: compensation that has not been finalised, the lack of honesty of TotalEnergies, and the capture of the State by the multinationals”, he added.
Some Palma communities have lost the land where they used to grow subsistence crops to give way to the gas projects, and, more than a decade later, they have not yet been adequately compensated. The communities accuse the government, which ought to defend their rights, of having been captured by powerful multinational companies, whose interests are prioritised above citizens’ rights.
The power of these companies, such as TotalEnergies, in Cabo Delgado, is such that even the civil society organisations depend on lifts from the company to monitor its practices, as is happening on this mission.
One activist commented that monitoring the activities of the multinationals while using transport provided by TotalEnergies “is not very appropriate”, but it is the only way of reaching the areas concerned.
“We signed a memorandum with TotalEnergies to monitor the impacts of their activities on the communities, but this is the first time we have been on the ground this year”, he said. “There were many delays. They allege questions of security. They say they bear the responsibility and have to guarantee everything”.
“We registered at the airport, as if we were from another country. Here in Afungi, we were fingerprinted to pass through the airport gate”, he added, as he described the constraints involved in gaining access to the area. In addition to the complaints about delayed compensation, one of the activists said the greatest concern is the safety of the communities, who remain vulnerable to attacks by the jihadist insurgents who have been operating in the region since 2017.
“Of all the complaints, the most worrying was security. The communities say that the workers of TotalEnergies are escorted, but members of the public are not”, said another activist.
After the insurgent attack against Palma town in March 2021, TotalEnergies suspended its activities and only resumed this year. It is now operating its onshore project as an enclave, concentrating all activities, including those of the sub-contracted companies, within a fenced area.
The communities accuse the company of isolating itself in a security island, leaving the nearby populations exposed to attack by the jihadist insurgents, who have killed more than 6,000 people since the start of the conflict in 2017, and more than 430 since the start of this year. (MT)
