Mozambique's extremist rebels kill aid worker in north

MAPUTO, Mozambique (AP) — Extremist rebels in Mozambique’s northern Cabo Delgado province have killed a worker for the international charity Doctors Without Borders, shortly after a former vice president of the organization was asked to produce a report into the humanitarian situation in the conflict-hit region.

Mozambique’s Islamic extremist insurgency, which started in October 2017, is blamed for the deaths of more than 3,000 people and for displacing an estimated 900,000 people. In March 2021 the rebel violence forced the France-based firm TotalEnergies to put on hold its $20 billion liquified natural gas project in the north of the province. TotalEnergies invoked force majeure after the insurgents attacked the town of Palma, very near the gas project.

Palma was later recaptured by Mozambican and Rwandan forces and the government has urged TotalEnergies to resume work on the gas project.

Last week TotalEnergies CEO Patrick Pouyanne made a lightning visit to Mozambique during which he inspected the gas project site and Palma as well as the port town of Mocímboa da Praia, once an insurgent stronghold. Pouyanne later dined with Mozambican president Filipe Nyusi in Cabo Delgado's provincial capital of Pemba before flying out the same day.

At the end of the top executive's visit, TotalEnergies announced the appointment of Jean-Christophe Rufin, “a recognized expert in humanitarian action and human rights,” to undertake “an independent mission to assess the humanitarian situation in Cabo Delgado province.” Rufin is a former vice president of Doctors Without Borders, known by its French acronym, MSF, and former president of the non-governmental organization Action Against Hunger. Rufin also served as France’s ambassador to Gambia and Senegal, appointed by the then foreign minister Bernard Kouchner, one of the...