TotalEnergies refused rescue aid during deadly Mozambique attack, inquest hears

WINCHESTER, England — TotalEnergies refused fuel to helicopters evacuating civilians as Islamist militants overran the Mozambican town of Palma in 2021 and later denied British special forces use of ...

Menu POLITICO Pro Log In POLITICO Pro TotalEnergies refused rescue aid during deadly Mozambique attack, inquest hears Sworn testimony comes as energy giant faces two criminal complaints in France over its Mozambican operations.

Free article usually reserved for subscribers A woman sits near the remains of a destroyed bank in Palma, Mozambique in September 2022.

| Camille Laffont/AFP via Getty Images September 24, 2026 6:09 pm CET By Alex Perry WINCHESTER, England — TotalEnergies refused fuel to helicopters evacuating civilians as Islamist militants overran the Mozambican town of Palma in 2021 and later denied British special forces use of its nearby construction site for a rescue mission, a British inquest heard this week.

The four-day hearing in Winchester was a coroner’s inquest, a British judicial proceeding to establish how and why Philip Mawer — a 58-year-old British construction contractor working on the French energy giant’s gas plant project — was killed by a rocket-propelled grenade while fleeing the assault.

The claims emerged in testimony and evidence presented during the hearing; the coroner did not, however, find that TotalEnergies’ decisions affected rescue efforts, saying Mawer’s security was the sole responsibility of his employer, a Dubai-based contractor, and the hotel at which he stayed.

Coroner Jason Pegg ruled on Thursday that Mawer was unlawfully killed by an unknown person, but accepted an argument by lawyers from TotalEnergies’ Mozambican subsidiary that the company had no legal duty of care to him because he was a subcontractor.

The testimony could carry consequences in France, where TotalEnergies faces two criminal complaints over its Mozambique operations , including an involuntary manslaughter case tied to the deaths of contractors during the Palma attack.

A French investigating magistrate was appointed last year to examine that complaint.

“These hearings were crucial, crucial, crucial,” said Henri Thulliez, a French human rights lawyer who filed both criminal complaints in Paris and who was in Winchester to watch proceedings.

“Finally, we have people talking under oath about what happened in Palma.