(Bloomberg) — Daniel Chapo, the ruling party’s candidate in Mozambique’s Oct. 9 presidential election, said he supports talks to end an Islamic State-backed insurgency that is destroying the planned $20 billion export project for TotalEnergies SE’s liquefied natural gas supply in the northeastern United States. country.
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The southeast African country’s government has struggled to contain an uprising that in 2021 prompted a group led by TotalEnergies to halt work on what was Africa’s largest private investment and evacuate workers. Chapo, a lawyer, said he would adopt a two-pronged strategy to end the uprising.
Policy change
“One approach is to fight terrorism on the ground,” he said in an interview. “But also to find a way to enter into dialogue with those behind this situation, so that we can really overcome this situation, so that there can be security and peace in that region, allowing the development of the LNG projects .”
Seeking talks with the instigators of the violence would mark a change in policy by the government, which has so far rejected this option. The conflict has killed at least 5,793 people and driven hundreds of thousands to flee their homes since it began seven years ago, according to the Cabo Ligado website that tracks the violence.
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Chapo, 47, is the presidential candidate for the Frente de Libertação de Moçambique, which has governed the country of almost 35 million inhabitants since independence from Portugal in 1975. He is competing against three opposition leaders and is widely expected to win. Chapo was a surprising choice for his party, as a relatively unknown provincial governor who had never served as a minister.
After a large-scale attack by insurgents that prompted TotalEnergies to abandon its project, the government of incumbent President Filipe Nyusi requested military assistance from Rwanda and the 16-member Southern African Development Community. While the regional bloc’s deployment ended in July, Rwanda sent another 2,000 troops this year.
Nyusi steps down after serving the constitutional limit of two terms in office. According to Eurasia Group, Chapo has at least a 70% chance of winning next week’s elections.
While foreign forces had helped Mozambique’s armed forces make major gains against the rebels, there was a resurgence in attacks earlier this year. Since August, new offensives by both Rwandan and Mozambican government forces have driven fighters from a key coastal area.
Pouyanne Visit
Patrick Pouyanné, CEO of TotalEnergies, said this week that he plans to visit Mozambique this month to meet the president-elect and discuss how the new government will “maintain this alliance with Rwanda.”
While security has improved, the oil and gas producer is waiting for three export credit agencies to confirm their commitment to financing the LNG project, Pouyanné told investors on October 2. If it resumes this year, production should start in 2029, he said. .
Asked about Rwanda’s continued role, Chapo said he would leave that decision until he is in power.
“Right now it’s very difficult to say in detail what this will be like because I’m a candidate,” he said. “But I am absolutely sure that after I take office I will receive the file, and only after I have understood the details of the file in a very detailed way can a real answer be given to the question of how this cooperation that this moment exists, will pass. are answered.”
The ability to renegotiate contracts with multinationals has emerged as a key theme in the campaigns of all four candidates, and Chapo said Mozambique’s government has always been committed to stability for investors.
Asked whether he would continue the country’s economic program with the International Monetary Fund, Chapo said: “We will continue to work with the IMF, we will continue to work with the World Bank, and we will continue to work with these partners, who are extraordinary important for economic stability – especially the macroeconomic stability of Mozambique.”
–With help from Borges Nhamire.
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