An investigation estimates that around 1,200 people were killed or disappeared in the rebel attack on Palma, in northern Mozambique, in March 2021 and in the violence that followed, American author, writer and journalist Alex Perry told Lusa.
“In total, 1,193 people were killed or disappeared (presumed dead) and another 209 people kidnapped,” with 156 under 18s among those killed, including babies and children, he says on his personal website.
The missing total 432, there are 366 people shot and 330 beheaded, detail the results of the investigation, published last week.
No entity (governmental or not) has so far presented an assessment of the number of victims of the attack that paralyzed the gas project led by TotalEnergies and aggravated the humanitarian crisis in the province, under fire from the insurgency since 2017.
The lag seemed so “amazing” to the author, that he used $20,000 (18,300 euros) from a prize (George Polk Awards) obtained with another report he wrote about the attack to return to Cabo Delgado and finance the investigation.
“You heard about hundreds of deaths, but there was no balance,” he recalls.
The numbers were obtained door to door in 13,686 homes in Palma and 15 surrounding towns, between November 2022 and March this year, by a team hired by Alex Perry, “with care” regarding the rigor and mastery of the local slingshots.
“We were meticulous: 97% of deaths are identified by name, age, sex, address and way of dying,” he says.
Alex Perry estimates that the number is higher, because the analysis of the results was “conservative”, excluding dubious information, and because it only covers civilians (in the communities surveyed), excluding casualties among the military, insurgents and gas project workers. .
Asked what he intends to achieve with the publication, the author says that, as a journalist, he is limiting himself to “establishing a fact.”
“What people do with the facts is no longer my job,” he said.
Perry adds to the collection a damning opinion from TotalEnergies, considering it responsible for what happened: “We are not saying that Total killed someone, but promised security” that only existed for the fenced area of the project, he accuses, and with the Mozambican forces that never showed the ability to protect the population.
“You can’t pretend to be a good neighbor” and then “not pay attention” when more than 1,000 people die or have no interest in counting the dead, Perry said.
The author shared the data with the French oil company and Mozambique government authorities, but says he has received no response.
In Lusa, the French oil company said that “it is not in a position to comment on the data” of the investigation and, on the other hand, referred the responsibility for the security of the project and its surroundings, at that time, to a joint force of the ministries Defense and Interior of Mozambique.
Even so, until the withdrawal of all Afungi personnel, the consortium “actively participated in assisting the population” to whom it provided water, food, urgent medical assistance and guaranteed air and sea transfers “for the most vulnerable, especially the women.” and kids”.
Since then, “TotalEnergies has shown all its solidarity with the Government and the population,” he added.
Lusa also sought reactions and clarifications from different Mozambican government ministries, but has yet to receive responses.
Alex Perry says that what he describes as “a massacre” in Palma will give rise to a book that he hopes to launch within two years, with a “detailed reconstruction” of the events and a global vision of the “behavior of the oil industry.” and gas, where I ask why it is so associated with violence”.
And Palma illustrates the work because he considers it “the worst” that has ever happened, he concludes.
Source: TSF
