Chapo denies allegations of human rights violations in Cabo Delgado

Maputo, 30 Nov (AIM) – Mozambican President Daniel Chapo on Saturday denied claims of serious human rights violations allegedly committed by the Mozambican defence and security forces in Palma district, in the northern province of Cabo Delgado.

The allegations were initially published in the London-based publication “Politico”, on 26 September, in an article entitled: “All must be beheaded: revelation of atrocities at French energy giant’s African stronghold”.

The claims reached a wider audience when the European Centre for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR) filed a criminal complaint against the French company, Total Energies, for alleged complicity in war crimes, torture and enforced disappearances against civilians in Cabo Delgado, where the company heads the Mozambique LNG Project, located on the Afungi peninsula, in Palma.

The criminal complaint, filed in France, claims that “the company directly financed and materially supported the Joint Task Force, set up by the Mozambican Armed Forces (FADM), which between July and September 2021 allegedly detained, tortured and killed dozens of civilians on TotalEnergies’ gas site. The complaint has been filed with the French National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor (PNAT), which also has a mandate to investigate international crimes.”

The complaint centres on the so-called “container massacre” at the company’s Afungi facility. These allegations which were first reported in September 2024.

It is claimed that the JTF kept dozens of civilians in metallic containers, where they were starved, beaten and tortured. At least five people were killed, and several are still missing.

“The civilians were fleeing their home villages as a result of attacks by Al-Shabab (as the jihadists are known in Cabo Delgado) when they were intercepted by the army. According to reported allegations, detainees were tortured, subjected to enforced disappearance and some of them executed. In September 2021, the final 26 detainees were released”, reads the ECCHR statement.

The Joint Task Force was established through a 2020 memorandum between TotalEnergies’ Mozambique subsidiary and the Mozambican government as a dedicated security unit to protect the Mozambique LNG project operations.

According to the ECCHR, TotalEnergies knew that the Mozambican forces had been accused of systematic human rights violations yet continued to support them with the sole purpose of securing its own facility.

Chapo denied the claim of atrocities during a visit on Saturday to the premises of the provincial delegation of the National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) in the Cabo Delgado provincial capital, Pemba.

Here Chapo was briefed on the actions under way to protect and promote fundamental rights in the province.

Apparently the “Politico” allegations were not raised during Chapo’s visit. The president told reporters that the claims “are not true”. He said the Attorney-General’s Office (PGR), in collaboration with the CNDH and other relevant bodies, had been involved in investigating the claims.

Because the Mozambican government “is committed to consolidating the democratic rule of law”, said Chapo, “we thought it very important to open the first provincial delegation of the CNDH in Cabo Delgado”.

The priority given to Cabo Delgado, he added, was “to combat the national and international narrative that questions the observance of human rights in this province”.

“We want to take advantage of this opportunity to say that we are giving priority to Cabo Delgado because we are facing the challenge of terrorism here, and because there is disinformation and manipulation of public opinion claiming there is no respect for human rights”.

Chapo added that, before opening the Pemba CNDH delegation, he had sent a team to Cabo Delgado to conduct a more detailed investigation.

That investigation, he said, had covered the entire province, but particularly the northern districts affected by Islamist terrorism.
(AIM)
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