TotalEnergies is the target of a complaint in Paris for "complicity in war crimes, torture and enforced disappearances" in Mozambique, for events dating back to 2021 at the site of its mega gas project which was then at a standstill, AFP learned Tuesday from the plaintiff NGO.

The German association European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR) accuses the French group of "directly financing and materially supporting the Joint Task Force (JTF), composed of Mozambican armed forces, which allegedly detained, tortured and killed dozens of civilians" between July and September 2021, according to its press release.

These abuses reportedly took place at the entrance to the Mozambique LNG gas project site, of which TotalEnergies is the largest shareholder (26.5%) and operator, and which was then on pause after a deadly jihadist attack in March 2021 on the neighbouring city of Palma (north).

The complaint was sent on Monday to the national anti-terrorism prosecutor's office (PNAT) in Paris, which has jurisdiction over war crimes.

It follows allegations reported by the media outlet Politico in September 2024, then by SourceMaterial and Le Monde, which TotalEnergies disputes.

When contacted by AFP on Tuesday, TotalEnergies did not immediately comment.

"It seems unthinkable that TotalEnergies could claim ignorance of the crimes of the Mozambican army, but also more particularly of the accusations of human rights violations targeting the Joint Task Force, since the company itself reports them in several internal documents transmitted to its public funders," Clara Gonzales, director of the business and human rights program at ECCHR, told AFP.

This complaint comes as the French hydrocarbon giant said on October 25 that it was ready to relaunch the Mozambique LNG consortium project, estimated at $20 billion, with a view to starting production in 2029.

After the attack by jihadists linked to the Islamic State group, active in the province of Cabo Delgado since 2017, the French group declared "force majeure" and suspended its project in April 2021.

The site was then placed under the control of the Mozambican army forces, grouped within the JTF, created in 2020 under an agreement between TotalEnergies' local subsidiary, Tepma 1, and the Maputo government. This agreement was terminated in October 2023.

"New" elements

According to Politico, during their counter-offensive against the jihadists, soldiers working for the site intercepted residents and locked between 180 and 250 men in containers, accusing them of supporting the insurgency.

Held for three months, they were beaten, starved, and tortured, and several were killed. The last 26 prisoners were released in September 2021, according to journalist Alex Perry's investigation, based on eyewitness accounts.

Mozambique LNG then asserted that it had "never received any information indicating that such events had actually taken place".

Subsequently, the company stated that in November 2024 it had requested an investigation from the Mozambican authorities, which was officially announced in March 2025 by the Attorney General's office. At the same time, the National Human Rights Commission confirmed it was launching its own investigation, as requested by TotalEnergies at the end of 2024.

According to the ECCHR association, TotalEnergies was "aware" of human rights violations by the armed forces.

Le Monde and Source Material had claimed in November 2024 that TotalEnergies had, as early as April 2021, knowledge of accusations of violent actions by the JTF against civilians, according to social reports from the Mozambique LNG teams and transmitted to the Italian export credit agency (SACE), which supports the project.

However, according to the NGO, "TotalEnergies continued to directly support the JTF" by providing housing, food and bonuses "conditional on respect for human rights".

ECCHR is today presenting "new documents" obtained from Dutch authorities, which reveal exchanges between the Dutch public export credit agency Atradius DSB and TotalEnergies, raising concerns as early as May 2020 about potential human rights abuses within the armed forces. According to the NGO, two investigations by export credit agencies have been launched.

This complaint should "be heard as a message to public financiers and banks such as Société Générale and Crédit Agricole to commit to their immediate withdrawal from the project," Lorette Philippot of Friends of the Earth France, who opposes "gas expansion in Mozambique," told AFP.