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EU foreign policy chief warns French energy giant over human rights abuses

EU foreign policy chief warns French energy giant over human rights abuses

BRUSSELS — A French energy giant implicated in allegations of rape and murder at a gas plant under construction in Mozambique could face legal consequences in the European Union if it commits future human rights abuses outside Europe, the bloc’s top diplomat said.

Last month, POLITICO reported that a Mozambican military unit was operating out of TotalEnergies’ gatehouse at the Cabo Delgado facility. killed and tortured dozens of civilians in 2021.

Soldiers accused villagers who fled their homes of being members of an Islamist insurgency, then forced them into shipping containers and subjected them to beatings and starvation for three months. Of the prisoners, only a small part survived.

TotalEnergies hired a Mozambican security unit to protect the plant despite warnings that some soldiers were allegedly committing human rights abuses. The energy company told POLITICO it was “not aware of the alleged events described” or “any information indicating that such events occurred.”