Total publishes landmark report on Cabo Delgado

Good afternoon. We can’t not lead today with the publication of the Rufin report into the humanitarian situation in Cabo Delgado, though our full story on it will be published tomorrow. It’s a major landmark on the road to restarting the Mozambique LNG project — widely seen as key to Mozambique’s economic development.

More on that topic below; but this is also a chance to highlight again an important story from last Friday, on the cotton business in Mozambique, and Cabo Delgado in particular. It provides a livelihood for many more people in Cabo Delgado than the gas projects are ever likely to. Which one is really the biggest story in the province?

250,000 livelihoods at risk as Plexus withdraws from Mozambique

After years of financial turmoil, it appears that one of the country’s biggest cotton producers has finally closed the shutters on its operations in the country

Zitamar NewsTom Gould

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The latest from Zitamar News:

Nangade enjoys a respite from the war

For much of the conflict in Cabo Delgado, Nangade has been one of the most hostile districts for security forces, but from February to May this year, it enjoyed a tenuous peace

Zitamar NewsTom Gould

From the Zitamar Live Blog:

Zitamar Mozambique Live Blog

TotalEnergies this morning published the report by Jean-Christophe Rufin into the humanitarian situation in Cabo Delgado, and an action plan decided by Mozambique LNG partners based on the recommendations of the report. The report says that the conflict in Cabo Delgado has origins pre-dating the ga…

Telegram

TotalEnergies has published the report by Jean-Christophe Rufin into the humanitarian situation in Cabo Delgado, finding an improved humanitarian situation in the north of Cabo Delgado, and improvements in the security situation. in particular with the return of the populations displaced by the conflict to the town of Palma and to a lesser degree to the town of Mocímboa da Praia.

The company's statement, and a link to the full report, can be found here: https://totalenergies.com/media/news/press-releases/totalenergies-publishes-jcrufins-report-human-rights-cabo-delgado

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The report by Jean-Christophe Rufin does not pull its punches on the role of decades of Frelimo government in creating the conditions for the current violent conflict in Cabo Delgado. It calls for an end to TotalEnergies paying Mozambican soldiers, as it has been doing for the so-called Joint Task Force protecting Afungi. And it highlights numerous failings with the resettlement undertaken thus far, pinning much of the blame on the project’s former operator, Anadarko.