Fighting in and around the vital Mozambique town of Palma reached a second day on Thursday, with ISIL-linked fighters capturing and ransacking the town despite French energy giant Total saying it was safe.
Mozambique’s government announced the area, located in the northernmost province of Cabo Delgado and is about 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) from $60 billion in gas developments, came under a three-pronged assault on Wednesday, and security forces stepped in to restore order.
The assault came just days after Total, the French energy giant, announced intentions to restart work on a $20 billion offshore gas project nearby.
Mozambique’s defense forces (SDS), according to defence ministry spokesman Omar Saranga, are “pursuing the enemy’s movement” and striving “tirelessly to restore security and order.”
“SDS will do everything possible to ensure the safety and well-being of the people… while trying to ensure the security of economic projects,” he told reporters in Maputo.
Saranga said that the number of fatalities and the extent of damage were unknown at this time and that mobile communications in the region had been “broken.”
Total made no public comment on the attack’s effect on its activities.
Brazen attack
Within a few hours of Total’s launch, Palma, which is home to a slew of foreign firms hoping to cash in on one of the most significant gas discoveries in a decade, was struck with its first major blow.
According to sources close to the Mozambique government and military, the assault had not been repulsed as of Thursday morning, and fighting was still going on.
According to Joseph Hanlon, a researcher and author on Mozambique, the region’s immense mineral wealth has been mined by an elite few. The rest of the people reaping little income, sparking the revolt.
“It is a severe hazard. One of the reasons the Palma attack is so important is because it is the nearest thing to the gas project in terms of size. There were over 100 militants, and they were well-organized and coordinated,” Hanlon said.
According to sources, the attackers fled Palma after robbing two banks and “taking hold of the town for a day.”
Palma is located in the gas-rich Cabo Delgado province, more than 1,800 kilometers (1,120 miles) northeast of Maputo, where officials have been grappling with a violent insurgency since 2017.
For years, fighters allied with the militant group ISIL (ISIS) have targeted villages and towns throughout the province, forcing hundreds of thousands to leave.
According to the United States-based data collection agency Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project, the war has killed at least 2,600 people, half of whom are civilians.
According to Amnesty International, residents are “caught” between fighters on one side and government security forces and a private militia on the other.
The watchdog charged all three sides of “war crimes” that resulted in hundreds of civilians’ deaths.
The violence has also disrupted the construction of Africa’s largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) project off the Afungi peninsula, which is scheduled to begin operations in 2024.
With a 26.5 percent stake, Total is the project’s primary creditor. Six other foreign corporations are also active, including Eni of Italy and ExxonMobil of the United States.
In January, Total was forced to withdraw some of its workers after separatist forces conducted a series of attacks only kilometers from the LNG facility.
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