‘Mozambique’s ‘blood gas’ another resource curse for Africa?’ 31 March 2021

Last week, the government of Mozambique’s affirmed that dozens of civilians had been killed in fresh attacks on the northern town of Palma, including seven people whose convoy of vehicles was ambushed as they attempted to flee. The Mozambique officials also claimed that hundreds of other people including locals and foreigners had been rescued from Palma, a logistics hub for international gas projects in Cabo Delgado province. French energy giant Total said it was forced to suspend operations at a huge gas project nearby. The company had only just announced it would restart work on the USD 20bn project which it had halted in January over security concerns.

While the conflict is going on, different narratives have been put forward as to what is the real cause of the conflict, which at face value has been labelled a terrorist attack linked to Islamic militants. Whereas, from a political economy perspective some believe that the conflict lays its roots in social-economic grievances from the locals who are not happy about the exploitation of the province’s ruby and gas industries with little benefit to the locals. Some argue that Mozambique’s ruling elites from Frelimo are complicit because of their greed and that’s why they, instead of calling for support from regional blocs like SADC and the AU, have instead opted for private military companies from Russia and South Africa.

…In the final analysis, it is abundantly clear that the conflict in the Northern province of Mozambique brews security and humanitarian risk for Southern Africa. To imagine that the crisis has been going on for almost three years and yet Mozambique chose to downplay the impact of the conflict raises a sting and gives way to conspiracy theories that the ruling elite is heavily compromised in this whole ordeal. The coming in of US Marines shows a much bigger impact on the interests at hand, is it to help end “terrorism” or to protect the Rovunna offshore gas fields which the US oil and gas corporation Exxon-Mobil has major concessions? As it seems, the government of Mozambique is determined to protect the interests of these corporates, the government signed a security memorandum of understanding with the Mozambican authorities for the protection of the LNG site and Total’s facilities. The collusion between the state and private capital raises another sting and points to a corrupt syndicate in most African countries at the expense of citizens.