The United Kingdom has withdrawn $1.5 billion in debt financing for a liquified natural gas project in Mozambique. The project, led by TotalEnergies, was put on hold in 2021 after Islamic State-linked insurgents attacked a town near the project in the province of Cabo Delgado and killed more than 800 people.
Last year in WPR, Sophie Neiman reported from Cabo Delgado on the conflict there. “The fighters are better known to a global audience as the Islamic State Mozambique since swearing allegiance to the international terrorist organization in 2018,” Neiman wrote. However, “The war in northern Mozambique is also rooted in local grievances, including political exclusion, poverty and a lack of control over the mineral wealth in Cabo Delgado.”
Total now says it plans to restart the LNG project because the presence of Rwandan troops has improved the security situation in the vicinity of the project. However, the heightened troop presence merely shifted the conflict south, leading to “violence in areas that had been relatively peaceful for the past four years,” Neiman reported.
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