Good afternoon. The gas projects are starting up again in Cabo Delgado province - but their return is overshadowed by the claim that the corporations developing those projects are linked to alleged killings and torture of civilians by the Mozambican armed forces.
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President Daniel Chapo denied claims of human rights abuses when he spoke to journalists at the weekend, as he was opening a local office of the National Human Rights Commission in Pemba, the provincial capital. It is the first time the president has addressed the issue since he took office.
There are a number of reasons why he may be commenting now. For one thing, he was in Cabo Delgado and speaking to journalists on the subject of human rights, so the topic may have been unavoidable. For another, an NGO has just launched legal action against French energy firm TotalEnergies in France, accusing it of being complicit in war crimes on the grounds that it financially supported troops who are said to have tortured and killed civilians.
