JA4change

Families from the communities of Milamba 1 and 2, affected by the liquefied natural gas projects of
TotalEnergies, Eni and ExxonMobil, were the first to be resettled in the town of Quitunda in 2019.
At the time, this was a strategic decision, driven by the prior displacement of these families, who
were fleeing the threat of attacks by insurgents. Thus, although they represented a relatively small
number of affected families, they were prioritised in the resettlement process.

Between July and August 2019, the 109 families from Milamba 1 and 2 received their homes.
Initially, the zone chief and other influential figures mobilised local residents not to accept the
houses until replacement land for their food fields (machambas) had been allocated. However,
under pressure from the company responsible for the project and the local government, the
families eventually agreed to accept the houses, despite the uncertainty regarding when they
would receive the land for agricultural production.

Between 2020 and 2022, families from these resettled areas were allocated land in the community
of Senga, where the so-called Phase Zero of the resettlement programme was officially launched.
However, this phase was never formally concluded, and to this day, there are still records of
complaints regarding the non-payment of compensation for the permanent loss of land, and in
most cases, the complaints lodged have not been resolved. The fact is that there is now talk of a
resettlement process having been completed, without, however, the promises made to the various
affected communities in the different phases set out in the Palma resettlement plan having been
fulfilled. This is an extremely protracted and complex resettlement process due to the high number
of people and families affected, delays in the payment of compensation and the apparent lack of
coordination among the various project teams 1 . The complexity and scope of the resettlement
process itself are increasing the number of people affected by the ongoing search for new areas to
allocate as compensation land, affecting new communities and families every day.

Most of the resettled families who received replacement land in the community of Senga are
currently facing disputes with the respective landowners of those areas. This situation arises
because TotalEnergies has not yet compensated some of the local families for the permanent loss
of their land. In many cases, the company claims that the land was idle; however, the communities
affected by the project dispute this classification, stating that the areas were being left fallow — a
common and recommended agricultural practice in both traditional and conventional farming, as it
contributes to soil fertilisation. Furthermore, several plots were clearly demarcated.

As a result, shortly after the land was allocated, the families resettled in Quitunda began to receive
threats, being warned that they should not farm on these plots until the rightful owners had
received the compensation provided for in the agreements reached between the company and the
community during the Phase Zero negotiations of the resettlement.

At one point, the situation appeared to be relatively under control, particularly in cases where some
families reached informal agreements for the shared use of the land. However, in most situations,
what is observed is the abandonment of the plots by the resettled families, who are frequently
prevented from using them by the respective landowners. In some cases, this prohibition occurs
even after the families have already sown their crops.

This is the case of the three elderly women who, after being allocated replacement land in Senga,
were subsequently evicted by the former owner of the land that had been assigned to them. They
no longer have the strength to argue or fight for land that was never truly theirs.
The lands they knew as their own were those where they were born and raised, lands that were
taken over by the project in Milamba, their community to which they can no longer return.

Today, they find themselves reduced to the insignificance imposed upon them by that very project. They
remain at home, lamenting their futures.

With no land to grow the food that sustains them, all that remains is to wait for the day when old
age can no longer bear the weight of their lamentations or the regret of not having resisted a little
longer. Today, they lament having lost the land they always knew as their own in exchange for a
promise that was never kept — a land from which they were driven out, without even having had
the chance to protest or demand justice.

Links to video interviews with those affected:

Intra-Community Conflicts in the District of Palma: Rabia Issa Mussa
Intra-Community Conflicts in the District of Palma: Nnacuze Rachide
Intra-Community Conflicts in the District of Palma: Nfalanca Vela

1 In Quitunda, some resettled families received coconut seedlings in 2024, although they are still waiting for the allocation of their
respective compensation land. In practice, the seedlings were distributed without the families having land where they can plant
them.