Ibrahimo Abu Mbaruco
Sources
On April 7, 2020, Ibrahimo Abu Mbaruco, a reporter for the Palma Community Radio in Mozambique’s northernmost province Cabo Delgado, was forcibly disappeared after texting a colleague to say he was “surrounded by soldiers”. For years, Mbaruco has been covering the violence in Cabo Delgado, where armed groups have been terrorising civilians since 2017. Mbaruco also reported on corruption and the links between the liquid natural gas industry, the global fossil fuel industry and the ongoing violence. Many local journalists reporting on the violence, and its links to Cabo Delgado’s $50bn multinational liquefied natural gas (LNG) industry, have reportedly been subjected to random arrests, unlawful detentions, torture and assaults by Mozambique’s military and police since 2018. The violence has left hundreds dead and forced more than 565,000 people to flee their homes and villages. More than 550 families have been displaced from their lands and fishing grounds to make way for the Afungi LNG Park which will house onshore support facilities for industry players in Africa’s three biggest LNG projects – Mozambique LNG led by Total, Coral LNG led by Eni, and ExxonMobil and Rovuma LNG led by ExxonMobil. Some of the banks financing the projects are Standard Bank, the Industrial Commercial Bank of China, Rand Merchant Bank, Absa, the Export Credit Insurance Corporation (ECIC), HSBC and the US Export Import Bank. Other players in the Mozambique gas industry include Sasol, BNP Paribas and Danske Bank. Sources reporting on the matter claim that by investing in the gas industry, these banks are worsening Mozambique’s dependence on fossil fuel exports, rewarding the state for its corruption and normalising a culture of impunity.