On March 24, a raid launched by the Islamic State organization killed dozens of people in the city of Palma, a few kilometers away from the French organization’s facilities.
The French group Total evacuated all its staff from a gas station in northeastern Mozambique nine days after the jihadist attack on Palma, and the multi-billion-euro project was completely stopped on Friday, April 2.
On March 24, armed groups attacked 75,000 in the port city, killing dozens of civilians, police and soldiers. After careful preparation, the raid has been declared from the Islamabad (IS) group that the raid was carried out only a few kilometers away from the Afungi Peninsula natural gas project.
“Total has decided to evacuate all personnel. Currently, all installations have been abandoned”A military source told AFP on Friday. “Total is missing”, Confirmed as a safe source. According to security sources, the rebels have been spotted near the Total base in recent days.
Armed groups, known locally as Chabab (“Young people” in Arabic) For more than three years, it has destroyed the poor but natural gas-rich province of Capo Delgado that borders Tanzania. The non-governmental organization ACLED had recorded 2,600 deaths before the attack on Palma, half of which were civilians. The United Nations believes that violence is also the root cause of humanitarian crises, and that humanitarian crises are likely to worsen. More than 670,000 people have been forced to leave their homes.
Thousands of people fleeing Palma flocked to the site on the Afungi Peninsula for nine days. Despite repeated evacuations by boat to the port of Pemba, which is more than 200 kilometers south, the number of displaced persons continues to increase. According to statistics from the International Organization for Migration (IOM), more than 9,100 people have been displaced.
described as «Apache Castle»Under the protection of the Mozambican army, the future natural gas extraction industry will start operations in 2024. The soldiers have been trying to regain Palma for several days, and Palma fell into the hands of the rebels on the night of March 26-27.
On the day of the attack, the French tanker announced the resumption of construction work at the site. Experts believe that, given the scale of the attack and the careful preparation required, it seems unlikely to be related to this announcement. Total did not deplore any casualties and the site was not directly targeted, but since the end of December, after a series of jihadist attacks nearby, work has been suspended. Some staff have been evacuated.