Resumption of $20bn Cabo Delgado gas project reignites both hope and resentment
The resumption of one of the world's biggest gas projects by French energy giant TotalEnergies, after a five-year suspension following a deadly jihadist attack, has raised hopes of jobs and prosperity in northern Mozambique. But this second instalment of Mozambique Exposed – an investigation coordinated by Forbidden Stories, to which RFI contributed – questions whether the country's vast gas wealth will benefit local communities.
Issued on: 12/06/2026 - RFI
The restarting of the world's largest gas field in northern Mozambique has brought both hope and concern. © Baptiste Condominas/RFI
It is barely 7am in the departure lounge at Pemba airport in northern Mozambique, on a day in early May. Around a dozen passengers sit quietly, some trying to recover from a short night's sleep.
Most are aid workers waiting for a United Nations-chartered flight to Mueda, Mocímboa da Praia or Palma, several hundred kilometres north of Pemba.
Suddenly, four heavily built men stand up. A pilot hands them unusual flat, brightly coloured life jackets. The group walks across the tarmac towards a helicopter.
"They're going to Afungi," one aid worker remarks. "A direct landing at the Total base."
A closed-off enclave
Afungi is a peninsula near the town of Palma in Mozambique's far north, in the Cabo Delgado province close to the border with Tanzania, whereTotalEnergies and its partners have established the Mozambique LNG (liquid natural gas) project.
The $20 billion project involves developing an offshore gas field in the Rovuma Basin and building facilities onshore to liquefy methane for export.
The reserves, estimated at 5,000 billion cubic metres, are among the largest ever discovered.
For this vast undertaking, TotalEnergies is being joined by several international partners, including three Indian oil companies, Japan's Mitsui and the Mozambican state, which holds a 15 percent stake.
The Afungi site covers 7,000 hectares behind perimeter fencing. At its centre is a paved airstrip surrounded by accommodation blocks and a maze of warehouses.
"Foreign companies isolate their workers. It does nothing for local development," says Abudo Gafuro, an activist with the human rights group Kundeleya.
Since 2017, Cabo Delgado has been gripped by an Islamist insurgency. Militants from the group Ansar al-Sunna (locally known as al-Shabaab), claim to be seeking to implement Sharia law and a new social order that would deliver a fairer distribution of wealth in the province.
According to the conflict-monitoring organisation Acled, more than 6,500 people have been killed, and a UN agency estimates at least 1 million people have been displaced.
TotalEnergies decided to suspend the Mozambique LNG project in 2020 due to security concerns. In April 2021 it officially announced the suspension after a series of deadly coordinated jihadist attacks. Work resumed only in January this year.
It is barely 7am in the departure lounge at Pemba airport in northern Mozambique, on a day in early May. Around a dozen passengers sit quietly, some trying to recover from a short night's sleep.
Most are aid workers waiting for a United Nations-chartered flight to Mueda, Mocímboa da Praia or Palma, several hundred kilometres north of Pemba.
Suddenly, four heavily built men stand up. A pilot hands them unusual flat, brightly coloured life jackets. The group walks across the tarmac towards a helicopter.
"They're going to Afungi," one aid worker remarks. "A direct landing at the Total base."
A closed-off enclave
Afungi is a peninsula near the town of Palma in Mozambique's far north, in the Cabo Delgado province close to the border with Tanzania, whereTotalEnergies and its partners have established the Mozambique LNG (liquid natural gas) project.
The $20 billion project involves developing an offshore gas field in the Rovuma Basin and building facilities onshore to liquefy methane for export.
The reserves, estimated at 5,000 billion cubic metres, are among the largest ever discovered.
For this vast undertaking, TotalEnergies is being joined by several international partners, including three Indian oil companies, Japan's Mitsui and the Mozambican state, which holds a 15 percent stake.
The Afungi site covers 7,000 hectares behind perimeter fencing. At its centre is a paved airstrip surrounded by accommodation blocks and a maze of warehouses.
"Foreign companies isolate their workers. It does nothing for local development," says Abudo Gafuro, an activist with the human rights group Kundeleya.
Since 2017, Cabo Delgado has been gripped by an Islamist insurgency. Militants from the group Ansar al-Sunna (locally known as al-Shabaab), claim to be seeking to implement Sharia law and a new social order that would deliver a fairer distribution of wealth in the province.
According to the conflict-monitoring organisation Acled, more than 6,500 people have been killed, and a UN agency estimates at least 1 million people have been displaced.
TotalEnergies decided to suspend the Mozambique LNG project in 2020 due to security concerns. In April 2021 it officially announced the suspension after a series of deadly coordinated jihadist attacks. Work resumed only in January this year.
A map shows the position of Afungi in northern Mozambique. © Studio FMM
Mozambique relaunches TotalEnergies gas project after five-year pause
Compensation and frustration
Sitting beneath an acacia tree, José Cheila* looks exhausted. A few days earlier, he attended a community meeting on land issues.
"The Total representative didn't even turn up," says the Palma-based civil society co-ordinator.
For nearly a decade, compensation claims linked to the expropriation of hundreds of farmers and fishermen have remained unresolved.
In Mozambique, land belongs to the state – although collective, individual and customary land use rights are recognised. In 2012, the government granted a land use and benefit right, known as a DUAT, to the Texas-based company Anadarko, which discovered the Rovuma gas field.
TotalEnergies inherited the agreement when it took over the project in 2019. The deal provided for relocation housing, individual and collective financial compensation and material assistance, including motorcycles.
While Cheila deems the compensation package fair, many people are yet to receive what was promised.
"About 184 million meticais [roughly €2.5m] in compensation was planned in 2014, but some families are still waiting because the project was suspended," says Eduardo Caponde of the Cabo Delgado Community Development Forum.
The resumption of Mozambique LNG has boosted expectations.
"Discussions have restarted. But new questions have emerged," Caponde points out. "Is an amount agreed in 2014 still appropriate today, when the cost of living in Palma has changed so much?"
Contacted by the Forbidden Stories consortium, TotalEnergies said all 643 families affected by the project had been relocated to the village of Quitunda, a claim reporters confirmed during one of their visits.
"By the end of 2025, the land compensation activities foreseen in the resettlement plan had been completed," the company stated in an emailed response, adding that "livelihood restoration programmes" had also been implemented.
Mozambique relaunches TotalEnergies gas project after five-year pause
Compensation and frustration
Sitting beneath an acacia tree, José Cheila* looks exhausted. A few days earlier, he attended a community meeting on land issues.
"The Total representative didn't even turn up," says the Palma-based civil society co-ordinator.
For nearly a decade, compensation claims linked to the expropriation of hundreds of farmers and fishermen have remained unresolved.
In Mozambique, land belongs to the state – although collective, individual and customary land use rights are recognised. In 2012, the government granted a land use and benefit right, known as a DUAT, to the Texas-based company Anadarko, which discovered the Rovuma gas field.
TotalEnergies inherited the agreement when it took over the project in 2019. The deal provided for relocation housing, individual and collective financial compensation and material assistance, including motorcycles.
While Cheila deems the compensation package fair, many people are yet to receive what was promised.
"About 184 million meticais [roughly €2.5m] in compensation was planned in 2014, but some families are still waiting because the project was suspended," says Eduardo Caponde of the Cabo Delgado Community Development Forum.
The resumption of Mozambique LNG has boosted expectations.
"Discussions have restarted. But new questions have emerged," Caponde points out. "Is an amount agreed in 2014 still appropriate today, when the cost of living in Palma has changed so much?"
Contacted by the Forbidden Stories consortium, TotalEnergies said all 643 families affected by the project had been relocated to the village of Quitunda, a claim reporters confirmed during one of their visits.
"By the end of 2025, the land compensation activities foreseen in the resettlement plan had been completed," the company stated in an emailed response, adding that "livelihood restoration programmes" had also been implemented.
Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi, left, shakes hands with TotalEnergies CEO Patrick Pouyanne at a meeting in Maputo, Mozambique on 3 February, 2023. Mozambican Presidency via AP
Fortress economy
Another source of frustration is the project's isolation from the surrounding economy.
In September 2025, TotalEnergies signed a memorandum of understanding with Mozambique's Northern Integrated Development Agency (ADIN).
The €8.5m programme is intended to fund job creation and income-generating projects in the districts of Palma and Mocímboa da Praia, but many residents remain unconvinced.
"Communities expected gas workers to use local restaurants and hotels and travel by motorcycle taxi," says Aly Caetano, Cabo Delgado co-ordinator for the Centre for Democracy and Human Rights (CDD).
"Some entrepreneurs took on debt because they believed this development was coming. But they never see the people from Total."
The highly securitised nature of the project has added to local resentment, particularly as nearby communities continue to face attacks from insurgents.
Human rights concerns
On 24 March, 2021, Palma suffered the deadliest attack in its history when hundreds of militants looted property, killed residents and controlled the town for nearly two weeks. The death toll is estimated at around 1,500 people.
Residents say several hundred civilians managed to reach the Afungi peninsula. At the time, the gas project had already been suspended and only limited personnel remained on site. Nonetheless, evacuation boats were organised to transport people to Pemba.
Those who stayed behind say they later endured harsh reprisals by Mozambique's armed forces, known as the FADM, after government troops retook the town.
"Our own soldiers were killing us. Our brothers," says Cheila.
Two legal complaints have been filed against TotalEnergies in connection with the Palma attack.
The first was lodged in 2023 before a court in Nanterre, near Paris, by three survivors and four relatives of victims from the United Kingdom and South Africa. They accuse the company of involuntary manslaughter and failing to assist people in danger, alleging negligence in the management of security arrangements for staff and subcontractors.
A second complaint was filed in 2025 with France's National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor's Office by the Germany-based European Centre for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR).
The German human rights organisation is examining the relationship between TotalEnergies and the Mozambican armed forces tasked with protecting, among other sites, the Mozambique LNG project.
Rwandan soldiers guard the TotalEnergies LNG Project in Afungi in the Cabo Delgado province, Mozambique, on 29 September, 2022. AFP - CAMILLE LAFFONT
Security agreement
In 2020, the Mozambique LNG project signed a memorandum of understanding with the Mozambican government regarding security.
The agreement provided for the deployment of a Joint Task Force of around 600 Mozambican soldiers in and around Afungi. Around 10 percent are elite troops known as fusileiros, trained by the United States.
Under the agreement, the project has to cover accommodation and food costs for the soldiers, who also receive a bonus linked to rank. Any involvement in abuses or human rights violations results in the automatic loss of that payment.
According to a 2023 internal audit commissioned by TotalEnergies and led in part by former French diplomat and humanitarian worker Jean-Christophe Ruffin, the arrangement was intended to reduce incentives for misconduct among troops, whose poor living conditions are widely recognised.
However, the report also raised concerns.
"The existence of a direct financial relationship with members of the Joint Task Force creates a direct link between Mozambique LNG and these troops," the report states. "It is doubtful that this conditional bonus can deter potential abuses. In the event of human rights violations, this relationship directly engages the responsibility of the consortium."
In 2021, payments to the Joint Task Force were suspended after local communities alleged human rights abuses. The allegations related to "abuse against two fishermen", according to TotalEnergies, and were not connected to the violence committed during the recapture of Palma.
Mozambican authorities have not opened an investigation into the events in Palma.
How Cabo Delgado's riches became fuel for the Islamist insurgency in Mozambique
For almost a decade, an Islamist group has terrorised Mozambique's northern province of Cabo Delgado. Despite vast reserves of rubies, timber and natural gas, the region remains the country's poorest. This first instalment of Mozambique Exposed – an investigation coordinated by Forbidden Stories to which RFI contributed – examines how exploitation of the region's wealth, corruption and alleged abuses by security forces helped fuel the insurgency.
Issued on: 11/06/2026 - RFI
Promises of a fairer system formed part of the group's appeal, said Vasco King of Kundeleya, a human rights organisation based in Pemba.
"Al-Shabab wants to establish an Islamic caliphate," he said. "They believe a fairer order should be put in place. They capitalise on a social situation marked by unemployment and underdevelopment."
Those tensions erupted into open violence in October 2017. Several police stations in the coastal town of Mocimboa da Praia were attacked and around 15 people were killed.
"It was a shock," resident Omar Sufo said. "We knew people were training in the bush, but nobody imagined there would be an attack."
Gas in the crosshairs
Mozambique's Al-Shabab pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group in 2019.
In a July 2020 edition, the group's propaganda newspaper Al Naba carried the headline: "Crusaders, beware of your investments in Mozambique."
Driving foreign economic players out of Cabo Delgado became a stated objective of the group.
Among those in its sights was the consortium developing a huge offshore gas field near the coastal town of Palma, in Cabo Delgado. The project contains reserves estimated at 5,000 billion cubic metres and involves French energy company TotalEnergies and its partners.
After years of its suspension, TotalEnergies announced this year that work on the project would resume.
The number of Al-Shabab fighters remains difficult to establish. The US National Counterterrorism Center estimated there were around 300 militants in 2025 – while the International Crisis Group put the figure at 3,000 in 2020.
The conflict has displaced at least 1 million people, a United Nations agency said.
For almost a decade, an Islamist group has terrorised Mozambique's northern province of Cabo Delgado. Despite vast reserves of rubies, timber and natural gas, the region remains the country's poorest. This first instalment of Mozambique Exposed – an investigation coordinated by Forbidden Stories to which RFI contributed – examines how exploitation of the region's wealth, corruption and alleged abuses by security forces helped fuel the insurgency.
Issued on: 11/06/2026 - RFI
Despite vast reserves of rubies, timber and natural gas, Cabo Delgado remains Mozambique's poorest province. © Baptiste Condominas/RFI
Rainy season had already begun in 2017 when thousands of artisanal miners working around Namanhumbir, near Montepuez in the northern Cabo Delgado province of Mozambique, saw security forces approaching.
Many were arrested for what the authorities called illegal mining. Most of the miners, known locally as garimpeiros, came from outside the region.
Some returned to their home districts or crossed into neighbouring southern Tanzania. Others joined a little-known armed group that was gaining strength in northern Mozambique – known locally as Al-Shabab and linked to the Islamic State group (although with no connection to the Somali militant group of the same name).
"From then on, it was war," one miner recalled in a 2021 report by the International Crisis Group, a conflict prevention organisation.
Grievances linked to natural resources became a powerful recruiting tool for the armed group.
Control of natural resources by foreign companies is one of the main themes in Al-Shabab's messaging, according to Joao Feijo, a researcher with the Observatório do Meio Rural, a Mozambican rural affairs research institute.
Ruby boom
Among Cabo Delgado's most valuable assets are rubies. Deposits discovered in 2009 helped make the province the source of around 80 percent of the world's ruby reserves.
One of the industry's main operators is Montepuez Ruby Mining (MRM), which received a 25-year concession in 2012, covering 10,000 square kilometres.
MRM is a subsidiary of British mining company Gemfields Limited, owner of luxury brand Fabergé. Twenty-five percent of the company is owned by General Raimundo Pachinuapa, a senior member of Frelimo, Mozambique's ruling party since it gained independence from Portugal in 1975.
In 2019, Gemfields agreed to pay €6.7 million in compensation to miners who dropped legal action accusing the company of human rights violations.
The case was brought in London by law firm Leigh Day on behalf of 273 garimpeiros. It said physical and sexual violence, degrading treatment and killings were carried out by MRM security personnel and Mozambican security forces.
Gemfields acknowledged violence had occurred around Montepuez, but did not accept responsibility.
Abuses linked to mining operations have not stopped, said Aly Caetano, Cabo Delgado coordinator for the Centre for Democracy and Human Rights, a Mozambican civil society organisation.
"Torture, illegal detention and killings continue," he said. "Meanwhile, the Montepuez-Pemba road remains the worst in the region. This feeling of being robbed feeds the terrorists' narrative."
Timber trail
Campaigners in Cabo Delgado also accuse authorities of profiting from the exploitation of the region's natural assets.
Far to the north lies Niassa Reserve, a protected area that has also become a centre for trafficking in ivory and valuable timber species.
In August 2020, Mozambican authorities seized 82 containers bound for China at the port of Pemba.
Inside were logs that investigators said had been cut illegally.
Four months later, the containers somehow escaped customs controls. The Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), an international environmental watchdog, said 66 were later recovered while on their way to China.
Mozambique's timber industry is heavily dominated by Chinese operators, and is closely linked to the business interests of senior Frelimo figures.
One of them is José Pacheco, a former governor of Cabo Delgado and former agriculture minister.
An EIA investigation into Chinese forestry companies reported financial ties between Pacheco and a businessman identified as Liu. The two men met several times, including during a Frelimo congress in the port city of Pemba.
The World Resources Institute, a United States-based research organisation, said Mozambican timber worth more than $400 million reached Chinese markets in 2016.
Mozambican customs authorities declared only $100 million in exports that year.
Capitalising on inequality
More than 3,000 kilometres from the capital Maputo, Cabo Delgado remains Mozambique's poorest province.
The United Nations Development Programme reported that average income remains below one dollar per person per day. Illiteracy affects 61 percent of residents, and 45 percent of children suffer from chronic malnutrition.
Anger had been building for years in rural communities.
One of the Al-Shabab movement's leaders, Maulana Ali Cassimo, was a former agriculture ministry official who travelled through the countryside on a motorbike denouncing forced evictions, police brutality and what he described as Maputo's control of Cabo Delgado's wealth.
Rainy season had already begun in 2017 when thousands of artisanal miners working around Namanhumbir, near Montepuez in the northern Cabo Delgado province of Mozambique, saw security forces approaching.
Many were arrested for what the authorities called illegal mining. Most of the miners, known locally as garimpeiros, came from outside the region.
Some returned to their home districts or crossed into neighbouring southern Tanzania. Others joined a little-known armed group that was gaining strength in northern Mozambique – known locally as Al-Shabab and linked to the Islamic State group (although with no connection to the Somali militant group of the same name).
"From then on, it was war," one miner recalled in a 2021 report by the International Crisis Group, a conflict prevention organisation.
Grievances linked to natural resources became a powerful recruiting tool for the armed group.
Control of natural resources by foreign companies is one of the main themes in Al-Shabab's messaging, according to Joao Feijo, a researcher with the Observatório do Meio Rural, a Mozambican rural affairs research institute.
Ruby boom
Among Cabo Delgado's most valuable assets are rubies. Deposits discovered in 2009 helped make the province the source of around 80 percent of the world's ruby reserves.
One of the industry's main operators is Montepuez Ruby Mining (MRM), which received a 25-year concession in 2012, covering 10,000 square kilometres.
MRM is a subsidiary of British mining company Gemfields Limited, owner of luxury brand Fabergé. Twenty-five percent of the company is owned by General Raimundo Pachinuapa, a senior member of Frelimo, Mozambique's ruling party since it gained independence from Portugal in 1975.
In 2019, Gemfields agreed to pay €6.7 million in compensation to miners who dropped legal action accusing the company of human rights violations.
The case was brought in London by law firm Leigh Day on behalf of 273 garimpeiros. It said physical and sexual violence, degrading treatment and killings were carried out by MRM security personnel and Mozambican security forces.
Gemfields acknowledged violence had occurred around Montepuez, but did not accept responsibility.
Abuses linked to mining operations have not stopped, said Aly Caetano, Cabo Delgado coordinator for the Centre for Democracy and Human Rights, a Mozambican civil society organisation.
"Torture, illegal detention and killings continue," he said. "Meanwhile, the Montepuez-Pemba road remains the worst in the region. This feeling of being robbed feeds the terrorists' narrative."
Timber trail
Campaigners in Cabo Delgado also accuse authorities of profiting from the exploitation of the region's natural assets.
Far to the north lies Niassa Reserve, a protected area that has also become a centre for trafficking in ivory and valuable timber species.
In August 2020, Mozambican authorities seized 82 containers bound for China at the port of Pemba.
Inside were logs that investigators said had been cut illegally.
Four months later, the containers somehow escaped customs controls. The Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), an international environmental watchdog, said 66 were later recovered while on their way to China.
Mozambique's timber industry is heavily dominated by Chinese operators, and is closely linked to the business interests of senior Frelimo figures.
One of them is José Pacheco, a former governor of Cabo Delgado and former agriculture minister.
An EIA investigation into Chinese forestry companies reported financial ties between Pacheco and a businessman identified as Liu. The two men met several times, including during a Frelimo congress in the port city of Pemba.
The World Resources Institute, a United States-based research organisation, said Mozambican timber worth more than $400 million reached Chinese markets in 2016.
Mozambican customs authorities declared only $100 million in exports that year.
Capitalising on inequality
More than 3,000 kilometres from the capital Maputo, Cabo Delgado remains Mozambique's poorest province.
The United Nations Development Programme reported that average income remains below one dollar per person per day. Illiteracy affects 61 percent of residents, and 45 percent of children suffer from chronic malnutrition.
Anger had been building for years in rural communities.
One of the Al-Shabab movement's leaders, Maulana Ali Cassimo, was a former agriculture ministry official who travelled through the countryside on a motorbike denouncing forced evictions, police brutality and what he described as Maputo's control of Cabo Delgado's wealth.
Mozambican soldiers patrol past a burned-out truck bearing the words "Shabaab Chinja", a reference to the Islamist armed group, in Mocímboa da Praia on 22 September 2021. © AFP
Promises of a fairer system formed part of the group's appeal, said Vasco King of Kundeleya, a human rights organisation based in Pemba.
"Al-Shabab wants to establish an Islamic caliphate," he said. "They believe a fairer order should be put in place. They capitalise on a social situation marked by unemployment and underdevelopment."
Those tensions erupted into open violence in October 2017. Several police stations in the coastal town of Mocimboa da Praia were attacked and around 15 people were killed.
"It was a shock," resident Omar Sufo said. "We knew people were training in the bush, but nobody imagined there would be an attack."
Gas in the crosshairs
Mozambique's Al-Shabab pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group in 2019.
In a July 2020 edition, the group's propaganda newspaper Al Naba carried the headline: "Crusaders, beware of your investments in Mozambique."
Driving foreign economic players out of Cabo Delgado became a stated objective of the group.
Among those in its sights was the consortium developing a huge offshore gas field near the coastal town of Palma, in Cabo Delgado. The project contains reserves estimated at 5,000 billion cubic metres and involves French energy company TotalEnergies and its partners.
After years of its suspension, TotalEnergies announced this year that work on the project would resume.
The number of Al-Shabab fighters remains difficult to establish. The US National Counterterrorism Center estimated there were around 300 militants in 2025 – while the International Crisis Group put the figure at 3,000 in 2020.
The conflict has displaced at least 1 million people, a United Nations agency said.
This article has been adapted from the original version in French by Gaëlle Laleix, reporting from Cabo Delgado.
It is the first instalment of Mozambique Exposed, an investigation coordinated by Forbidden Stories, a global non-profit network of investigative journalists. The project is based on nearly 100 interviews and five months of reporting by 30 journalists from 10 media organisations, including RFI and Les Observateurs de France 24 (France), Evident Media (United States), Expresso (Portugal), M28 Investigates (Rwanda), Paper Trail Media (Germany), SourceMaterial (United Kingdom), ZDF (Germany) and Zitamar News (Mozambique).
It is the first instalment of Mozambique Exposed, an investigation coordinated by Forbidden Stories, a global non-profit network of investigative journalists. The project is based on nearly 100 interviews and five months of reporting by 30 journalists from 10 media organisations, including RFI and Les Observateurs de France 24 (France), Evident Media (United States), Expresso (Portugal), M28 Investigates (Rwanda), Paper Trail Media (Germany), SourceMaterial (United Kingdom), ZDF (Germany) and Zitamar News (Mozambique).
