Pressure from human rights organizations follows a POLITICO investigation into TotalEnergies plant.
PARIS — A group of more than 100 NGOs has called on private banks and public lending institutions to stop financing a liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility under construction by French fossil fuel giant TotalEnergies in Mozambique.
« It is in your hands to ensure justice for the people affected by this project, and for the survivors and witnesses of the reported massacre near the Afungi gas site, » the NGOs wrote in an open letter published Wednesday.
POLITICO reported in September that a Mozambican military unit operating out of TotalEnergies’ gas plant herded a group of between 180 and 250 people into containers at the energy giant’s gatehouse and kept them there for three months.
Eleven survivors, plus two witnesses, testified that only 26 men survived the ordeal. POLITICO published a summary of a survey that identified 97 victims, and listed their causes of death as suffocation, being beaten to death, being shot, being “disappeared” — taken away and presumably executed — and missing, presumed dead after last being seen in the army’s custody.
The revelations sparked criticism from French and European lawmakers.
TotalEnergies told POLITICO that, after “extensive research,” it had “not identified any information or evidence likely to corroborate the allegations of serious abuse and torture.”
In their letter, the NGOs — 126 organizations including Friends of the Earth, ActionAid and Greenpeace France — question the French energy giant’s response to the allegations of violence.
« What does this suggest about its competence and its ability to effectively prevent such serious human rights violations? Is TotalEnergies’ statement that it has not been informed about the alleged massacre intended at avoiding accountability? » the NGOs asked.
The open letter was shared in December with around 30 banks and public financial institutions, including the French Crédit Agricole, JP Morgan, Standard Chartered Bank, the Export Import Bank of the United States (US EXIM) and UK Export Finance (UKEF).
In a written answer to the NGOs seen by POLITICO, neither of the two French banks committed to stop financing the gas project or expressed support for an independent investigation. Société Générale said it was bound by confidentiality and its contracts with all of its customers.
The NGOs ask for the alleged human rights violations to be independently investigated by an intergovernmental body. Local authorities in Mozambique have spoken out in favor of a « transparent and impartial investigation. »
TotalEnergies CEO Patrick Pouyanné in October told investors he wanted to relaunch the LNG project, which is currently on hold, and that he had secured support from nearly all his financial backers.
“We are aware that TotalEnergies has contacted these banks and export credit agencies to secure their renewed support,” the NGOs wrote in their letter, asking TotalEnergies’ financiers to “reconsider [their] participation.”
“This project has it all,” said Adam McGibbon, a campaign strategist at Oil Change International in an e-mailed statement.
« One of the largest terrorist attacks in history targeting its workers, allegations of torture, murder and rape around the project site, a lack of compensation for local people, and projected climate pollution bigger than the combined annual emissions of the entire European Union, » the campaigner said.
« Every month the picture gets worse — why would anyone want to fund this? » he asked.
Alex Perry contributed to this report.