Leadership: President Daniel Chapo reinforces the morale of Mozambican and Rwandan troops in the fight against terrorism in Northern Mozambique. Photos: Mozambican Presidency
Despite the absence of any evidence implicating the Mozambican state or TotalEnergies in wrongdoing, a debunked allegation from 2024 has resurfaced in Europe, where it has been repurposed into a criminal complaint – fueling a crisis built on unsubstantiated claims.
The narrative alleging that Mozambican Armed Forces detained or tortured civilians in shipping containers inside the perimeter of the Mozambique LNG project – dubbed the “container massacre” – traces back to a September 2024 POLITICO article. That report, published without field investigation or corroboration from independent sources, has since been widely discredited.
From the outset, the Mozambican government rejected the allegation. Defense Minister Cristóvão Chume stated publicly that no national forces were implicated in abuses, stressing that there were no facts, evidence, videos, independent reports, or verified testimonies to substantiate the claim.
TotalEnergies likewise issued a categorical denial, reaffirming its strict compliance with human rights protocols. With no credible basis, the accusation quickly lost momentum and collapsed. Or so it seemed.
The allegation was never buried; it lay dormant, awaiting a politically opportune moment. Its return was surgical: a false claim revived on the very day TotalEnergies announced it was lifting the force majeure imposed back in 2021. The timeline underscores the strategic nature of the attack.
- November 7, 2025: TotalEnergies lifts the force majeure and formally confirms its return to the project.
- November 18: The Council of Ministers approves the decree reopening the path for intervention.
- Days later: The German NGO ECCHR lodges a criminal complaint in Paris – without introducing a single piece of new evidence. The filing repeats, almost word for word, the POLITICO article that Mozambique had already discredited.
No on-the-ground investigation was carried out. No independent body corroborated the allegation. No international institution produced evidence. What we are witnessing is a political resurrection, not a factual event.
Mozambican President Daniel Chapo was in Cabo Delgado, Northern Mozambique this week.
Government response: Procedurally correct, but vulnerable in framing
Pressed by journalists, Council of Ministers spokesperson Inocêncio Impissa urged prudence, demanded “concrete data,” and asked for time to assess the situation. His stance was technically sound: a state does not comment on a legal complaint lodged abroad without official information.
What was missing was the central reminder: the allegation had already been debunked in 2024, and Mozambique had formally and unequivocally stated that no abuses had been committed.
Without this context, the minister appeared to be addressing a new issue. That framing opened the door to misinterpretations abroad – misinterpretations which, compounded by European omission and silence, risked creating the false impression that the Mozambican state regarded the allegation as plausible. It is neither plausible nor just.
The European strategy: Turning unproven allegations into political facts
In Europe, NGOs, anti-extractivist platforms, and environmental lobbying groups now find fertile ground to recycle old narratives—even those already refuted—as political instruments to:
- Pressure investors
- Embarrass multinational corporations
- Block financing
- Interfere with gas megaprojects in the Global South.
It is within this context that Mozambique re-emerges as an easy target—not through any fault of its own, but because it stands on the threshold of becoming a decisive energy player.
It bears repeating: neither the Mozambican state nor TotalEnergies committed abuses, and no credible investigation has ever proven otherwise.
Immediate risks for Mozambique despite proven innocence
Even without culpability, the country faces potential political and economic fallout:
- Narrative erosion
- Investor confidence undermined
- Undue pressure on TotalEnergies and ExxonMobil
- Unjust damage to the reputation of the Armed Forces
- Interference in strategic energy decisions
Truth alone does not shield; it must be actively communicated.
A country exposed by a lack of internal coordination
The absence of an integrated communication strategy allowed the narrative to resurface without immediate rebuttal. As a result, a false accusation—already refuted, lacking evidence, and devoid of factual basis—gained traction in the vacuum created by Mozambique’s initial silence.
The battle is not legal but narrative. What is contested now is not the facts themselves, but the version of the facts.
The European framing advances because it encountered a Mozambican state that responded late and without institutional memory.
Yet one central point remains, which any responsible journalist must highlight: to this day, there is no evidence that the Mozambican state committed abuses in Afungi. To this day, there is no evidence of TotalEnergies’ involvement in human rights violations.
No independent report, international investigation, or credible documentation supports the claim.
Marcelo Mosse is the editor-in-chief of Carta, a Mozambican digital newspaper