BRUSSELS — A French energy giant implicated in allegations of rape and murder at a gas plant under construction in Mozambique could face legal repercussions in the European Union if it violates human rights outside Europe in the future, the country’s top diplomat said. the block.

POLITICO reported last month that a Mozambican military unit operates out of TotalEnergies’ gates at a site in Cabo Delgado massacred and tortured dozens of civilians in 2021.

Soldiers accused villagers who had fled their homes of being members of an Islamist insurgency, then crammed them into shipping containers and subjected them to beatings and starvation for three months. Of those captured, only a small fraction survived.

TotalEnergies contracted a Mozambican security unit to defend the plant, despite warnings that some soldiers had committed human rights abuses. The energy company told POLITICO that it had “no knowledge of the alleged events described” and “no information indicating that such events occurred.”