Attack in Mozambique: the city of Palma in the hands of the jihadists, Total suspends its operations

About 180 people, including expatriate workers, have been trapped in a hotel for three days in Palma, by a jihadist attack on this city in northeastern Mozambique, workers and security sources said on Friday.

They were evacuated during the day, we learned this Saturday, without the details of the operation being communicated yet.

Since then, several sources estimate that the entire city is currently in the hands of the jihadists, after three days of fighting.

"The government forces have withdrawn from Palma, so the city is in fact seized," sums up one of them.

This area is home to a mega gas project in which the French group Total is participating, according to the workers concerned.

The French oil company, which on Wednesday said it wanted to resume construction work on its gas site in northern Mozambique, announced on Saturday the suspension of its operations after the jihadist attack in Palma in recent days.

Total "does not deplore any victims among the personnel employed on the project site" in Afungi, ten kilometers from Palma, but will "reduce the personnel to the strict minimum" and "the remobilization of the project envisaged at the start of the week is good sure suspended ”.

Fighting continues in the area.

So, at this point, it is difficult to tell if the evacuees are out of danger.

The destination of these besieged and the details of their evacuation remained unclear this Saturday afternoon.

Communication via mobile phone, in this border area with Tanzania, has been particularly uncertain since the start of the attack on Wednesday.

A first group of 80 people left in army trucks on Friday, but they did not all arrive safely, according to the security source, who is participating in these operations.

On Wednesday afternoon, jihadist groups launched a major attack on the city, simultaneously on three fronts, the same day the French giant announced the resumption of work on the gas exploitation site, which is supposed to be operational in 2024. According to several experts, given the scale of the attack and its careful preparation, it seems unlikely that it was linked to Total's announcement.

Victims who did not arrive at their destination

The surprise attack sent hundreds of terrified people to flee into the surrounding forest while workers linked to the construction of the gas complex, including foreigners, took refuge inside the neighboring site but also in a hotel in Palma.

Some 180 people spent more than 48 hellish hours there, without knowing if they would be rescued, in the din of helicopters flying over the area.

At the end of the day on Friday, they were finally evacuated but several were then killed in an ambush.

At least seven according to the local press, an assessment impossible to confirm immediately.

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A first group of 80 people left the Amarula hotel aboard 17 army trucks, according to a security source involved in the operations.

But “the convoy was attacked shortly after leaving the hotel.

Several people were killed, most of them managed to escape, ”said this source.

"The convoy of 17 trucks was attacked shortly after leaving the Amarula hotel" in Palma, the source explained.

"Several were killed but most managed to escape," he said, adding that only seven of the trucks had reached their destination, the route of the others remaining unknown.

The hundred other besieged left the hotel on foot to reach the beach.

The soldiers found them there in the middle of the night and they were evacuated by boat.

"The fighting continues and several military teams continue their research to try to save the people who were on board the attacked trucks", added this source this Saturday morning.

Jihadist groups, which have led a bloody guerrilla war for more than three years in the province of Cabo Delgado, rich in natural gas, launched a surprise attack on Wednesday afternoon against the small town of Palma.

This attack sent terrified residents to the surrounding forest, while site workers, including foreigners, and Mozambican officials took refuge in the Amarula hotel.

There were around 100 attackers, according to the Guardian, citing local media.

The government confirmed the attack and clarified that the security forces (SDS) had launched an offensive to drive out the rebels.

"We don't know if we are going to be saved"

The jihadist attack came on the day the French giant announced the resumption of construction work on the gas site, which should be operational in 2024. Total is the main investor in the project, with a 26.5% stake .

Six other international groups are involved in this project, including the Italian Eni and the American ExxonMobil.

While these jihadist armed groups have been more discreet in recent months, the question of timing then arises.

But according to several experts, given the scale of the attack and its careful preparation, it seems unlikely that it was linked to Total's announcement on the same day.

“Almost the whole city has been destroyed.

A lot of people have died, ”a worker said by phone Friday after being evacuated.

He did not give details of the victims and their nationality.

Another person working for a company associated with the energy giant Total assured that helicopters flew over the hotel on Friday trying to find "a corridor to evacuate some 180 people trapped in the hotel".

"But at nightfall a lot of people are trapped there as the rebels advance towards the hotel," she added.

In a brief video clip posted on social media, which could not be verified, an unidentified person filmed the hotel lobby showing several people gathered on the terrace.

The engine of a helicopter is heard as she describes the situation in Palma as "critical".

“We don't know if we're going to be saved,” the person said, adding that the hotel was running out of food but there was still water.

An insurrection since 2017

Palma is located more than 1,800 km northeast of Maputo in the gas-rich province of Cabo Delgado, where authorities have faced a violent insurgency since 2017.

Armed jihadists, known as Al Shabab ("young people" in Arabic) who pledged allegiance to the Islamic State (IS) group in 2019, have been carrying out bloody attacks there for more than three years.

The attacks had nevertheless weakened in recent months, a lull attributed to the military response.

The conflict has left at least 2,600 dead, more than half of them civilians, according to the NGO Acled, and forced more than 670,000 people to leave their homes, according to the UN.