Mozambique’s Defense Ministry expressed “total openness and willingness to accept a transparent and impartial investigation” into allegations of military violence at a natural gas facility operated by TotalEnergies. POLITICO reported last month that a Mozambican military unit operating out of TotalEnergies’ gatehouse at the site in Cabo Delgado massacred and tortured dozens of civilians in 2021.

The soldiers accused villagers who had fled their homes of being members of an Islamist insurgency, then crammed them into shipping containers and subjected them to beatings and starvation over three months. Of those captured, only a small portion survived. In a press release on Sunday, the ministry refuted the allegations that the army was involved in acts of torture and violence, arguing that they were not corroborated by evidence. It also said the armed forces in the area had been “exclusively focused on combatting terrorist acts, protecting populations and their assets, as well as ensuring security in areas threatened by terrorists.”

TotalEnergies contracted a Mozambican security unit to defend the plant despite warnings that some soldiers had allegedly carried out human rights abuses. The energy giant told POLITICO it had “no knowledge of the alleged events described or any information indicating that such events took place.”