EDITORIAL | It’s a bloody war out there - but nobody’s breaking their necks to help

French oil giant Total issued a statement over the weekend serving as an “update” to the situation in northern Mozambique where suspected Islamic insurgents attacked the town of Palma, leaving death and destruction in their wake. But if one processed the statement by Total in isolation, the magnitude of the situation would be entirely lost on the reader.

Nobody related to Total died, according to the statement (“Total confirms there are no victims among the staff employed on the site of the project in Afungi”). Yet it “sympathises” with those affected by “tragic events”, without going into any detail or mention of the terrifying attacks and killings that happened over the past few days, mostly on people doing jobs related to the gas project (“Total expresses its sympathy and support to the people of Palma, to the relatives of the victims and those affected by the tragic events of the past days”). 

This came as Afrikaans weekly Rapport reported on claims that the oil company refused to provide fuel to helicopters wanting to go in and rescue people from several countries, including Mozambicans and aid workers, stranded and surrounded by militant fighters.

“Our choppers are flying on fumes,” Col Lionel Dyck told the newspaper, describing the shortage of fuel as a major hurdle for his teams to go in and save lives. Sunday Times Daily asked Total to comment on this allegation, and the response was: “Mozambique LNG will not comment on the referred claims. However, Mozambique LNG confirms that it is providing all possible support to the Mozambican authorities for the rescue operations ongoing in Palma.”

Cellphone towers have been shot out and journalists cannot get near the area to report on the violence centred on a $20bn (R300bn) offshore natural gas project. Mozambican authorities appear to be at a loss as to how to handle the violence that has displaced hundreds of thousands of people since 2017 and left at least 1,200 dead. Mozambican police have hired an SA-based private military company, Dyck Advisory Group (DAG), to help them fight the insurgents, while Mozambican government leaders would not set foot in the mineral-rich and troubled Cabo Delgado area. 

In the same statement, Total says it “trusts the government of Mozambique whose public security forces are currently working to take back the control of the area”. Total is distancing itself from the blood in the streets, rather playing a strategic business game that includes not embarrassing a clearly impotent Mozambique. 

Unconfirmed reports suggest at least seven people were killed last week — either shot dead or beheaded — and scores were injured and missing. Seven people in Palma who spoke to the New York-based Human Rights Watch described people fleeing as gunshots rang out, with bodies in the streets and insurgents firing at both people and buildings. The mother of one of the South Africans killed told the Sunday Times how a convoy of vehicles had been attacked and how her husband and surviving son hid in the bushes with the body of their slain son.

Several reports suggested seven out of 17 vehicles in the convoy got through, but not without taking hits. Sixty people from the remaining 10 vehicles are said to be missing. Another South African told News24 how her father took an old AK47 from an abandoned government vehicle as his only defence before fleeing into bushes to hide. 

A weekend article by Reuters news agency was at pains to say that the reports out of Palma had not been independently verified because most communications are down. The only people who can really tell the rest of the world and concerned families what is going on, are those at the heart of gas project: Total and the Mozambican government. But the only peep from Total was: “Mozambique LNG confirms that there are no victims among the staff employed on the site of the project in Afungi, including Total staff and contractors’ staff.” While the Mozambican government has been even quieter. 

President Cyril Ramaphosa held an urgent meeting with SA National Defence Force officials at the weekend to discuss sending in land forces to help contain the situation. That is not a simple process though. The crux of the matter is that Mozambique remains an independent country and needs to ask SA or the region for help. Mozambique is currently the chair of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and should be using that position to its advantage. If it will, remains to be seen.