A terrorist attack on March 24, 2021 in the town of Palma, in the province of Cabo Delgado, forced the French multinational TotalEnergies to declare "Force Majeure", withdraw all its staff and suspend the advance of activities for the exploration of liquefied natural gas in Area 4 of the Rovuma basin.

The project has been suspended ever since. The government has made efforts to re-establish security and tranquility in the regions affected by terrorism. It has done so with external support. And it expects a favorable decision from TotalEnergies, as it assures that the conditions are in place for the resumption of activities at all levels.

The President of the Republic, Filipe Nyusi, stressed on Wednesday that the regions once attacked by terrorists are now under the control of the defense and security forces. He said that activities were going on as normal and that, in his opinion, the reason given by TotalEnergies for suspending activities should not affect the resumption of the project.

"The situation is now relatively stable and the population has returned significantly to their areas of origin. We are restoring the functioning of institutions and work is currently underway to rebuild destroyed infrastructure.... We can say that as a result of the operations carried out on the ground, the security situation in the districts once affected by intense terrorist acts is better than it was in 2018, when the projects were running normally in the Rovuma basin. This is why we say that the resumption of megaprojects on the Afungi peninsula cannot be conditioned solely by the Force Majeure clause. In the current conditions, we must honor the surrender of the Defense and Security Forces, in particular, and their allies, by resuming the normal course of life, including the activities of the productive sector at all levels," appealed the Head of State.

Filipe Nyusi was speaking in Maputo on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Armed Forces and Defense of Mozambique and the launching of the National Liberation Struggle.