Following an insurgent attack on Palma town by the armed group Al-Shabab in April 2021, the Mozambican army – including members of the Joint Task Force supported by TotalEnergies – allegedly arbitrarily detained dozens of civilians in metal containers situated at the facility entrance between July and September 2021. The civilians were fleeing their home villages as a result of attacks by Al-Shabab when they were intercepted by the army. According to reported allegations, detainees were tortured and subjected to forced disappearance or executed. On 18 November 2025, ECCHR filed a criminal complaint in France against TotalEnergies for complicity in war crimes, torture and enforced disappearance targeting the oil and gas major role in directly supporting the Joint Task Force (JTF), accused of being involved in the “container massacre”.

The complaint has been filed by ECCHR with the French National Anti Terrorism Prosecutor (PNAT), which also has a mandate to investigate international crimes. 

It centers on the so-called "container massacre" that allegedly took place at TotalEnergies’ facility between July and September 2021 and involved members of the Joint Task Force. 

The Joint Task Force was created in 2020 through a memorandum between TotalEnergies' Mozambican subsidiary and the government. Under this agreement, the company provided accommodation, food, equipment, and soldier bonuses – support that continued despite the company's knowledge of systematic human rights violations.

Internal documents show thatTotalEnergies was aware of accusations of violence against civilians being committed by Mozambican armed forces fromMay 2020,yet continued its support to the JTF. The only safeguard: a possibility to withhold bonuses if soldiers committed human rights violations. A mechanism that clearly failed.

The allegations were first reported in September 2024 by international media — Politico, SourceMaterial, and Le Monde, sparking the opening of investigations. In 2025, the Attorney General of Mozambique announced that a criminal investigation had been opened into the allegations. The UK and Netherlands governments, which provide export finance to the LNG project, have also reportedly initiated their own investigations. Yet, no judicial investigation looking into TotalEnergies’ role has been opened in Europe. 

Since 2017, Cabo Delgado has been the scene of an ongoing  conflict. The non-state armed group Al-Shabab has attacked villages and forced hundreds of thousands to flee. Within this volatile environment sits TotalEnergies' Mozambique LNG, one of Africa's largest gas projects. For local communities, the development of the project has caused  displacement, violence and constant insecurity. 

In November 2025, TotalEnergies announced it was lifting the force majeure that it had declared following an attack on the LNG site in April 2021. This is despite ongoing violence, intensifying attacks and a deepening humanitarian crisis in the region.

This case follows another criminal complaint filed in 2023 by survivors and relatives of victims of the April 2021 Palma attack, in which TotalEnergies is separately accused of failing to ensure the safety of its subcontractors who were targeted, and some of them killed. In March 2025, the Prosecutor in Nanterre opened a preliminary investigation against TotalEnergies on charges of manslaughter and failure to assist persons in danger.

Companies in conflict zones are not neutral actors. When they finance security forces that commit grave violations, they may be complicit. Precedents exist for corporate liability: The case against Lafarge led to indictments for complicity in crimes against humanity. In Sweden, two former executives of the oil company Lundin are on trial for complicity in war crimes by Sudan's regime.