An NGO said Tuesday it had filed a legal complaint against TotalEnergies, accusing the French energy multinational of "complicity in war crimes" by local troops at its gas site in Mozambique.
The complaint by the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR), a German NGO, was filed on Monday with France's national anti-terrorism prosecutor, according to the proof of filing seen by AFP.
It focuses on alleged abuses between July and September 2021 by soldiers belonging to a joint task force (JTF) deployed to protect the gas site that the company operates and plans to restart following a 2021 jihadist attack.
The alleged abuses, including the torture and killing of dozens of civilians, took place at TotalEnergies' liquefied natural gas project in the restive northeastern Cabo Delgado province, the ECCHR said in a statement.
"Internal documents show that TotalEnergies was aware of accusations of violence against civilians being committed by Mozambican armed forces from May 2020, yet continued its support to the JTF," the ECCHR said.
TotalEnergies told AFP it "had not been notified of the complaint" and "firmly rejects all these accusations".
It noted that it had asked Mozambican authorities in 2024 to investigate the allegations against their army, and that such a probe had been opened by prosecutors in 2025.
The task force comprising Mozambican armed forces was responsible for protecting the gas site whose operations were suspended following the 2021 attack.
- Civilians locked up -
News site Politico reported that soldiers working for the site, while fighting a counteroffensive against the jihadists, locked up to 250 civilians in containers for three months accusing them of supporting the jihadists.
The civilians were beaten and tortured and some were killed, with only 26 surviving, Politico said, citing witnesses.
"TotalEnergies knew that the Mozambican armed forces had been accused of systematic human rights violations, yet continued to support them with the only objective to secure its own facility," said Clara Gonzales, ECCHR's co-programme director for business and human rights.
"Companies and their executives are not neutral actors when they operate in conflict zones: if they enable or fuel crimes, they might be complicit and should be held accountable," she was quoted as saying in the statement.
The gas company operating the site, Mozambique LNG, said it had "no knowledge of the alleged events described" nor "any information indicating that such events took place", according to ECCHR.
Last month, Mozambican and international NGOs accused TotalEnergies of holding Mozambique "hostage" over the French giant's demand of "ultra-favourable" conditions to restart the gas project in which TotalEnergies owns a 26.5-percent-stake.
TotalEnergies has said it hopes to resume production at the gas site in 2029, but first needs approval by the authorities for its new budget plan which includes $4.5 billion of cost overruns linked to the delay, to be covered by the Mozambique government.
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