For now, I share with you my initial thoughts on the road that took us there:

Since 2018, I have been working closely with the farmers' union in northern Mozambique. I was there often; the faces, voices and stories of the people there are never far from my thoughts. My colleagues there taught me patience and determination.

It is together with them that I have continued to dialogue, continued to write, continued to warn. The risks of the LNG project – social, economic and safety-related – were already so visible in Mozambique that it became increasingly incomprehensible to me how a Dutch public investor could still be moving towards support.

This story is not just about Mozambique. It is about how public funds are used, what risks we accept as a society, and who bears the consequences when large companies make mistakes. Dutch export credit insurance is financed by taxpayers' money. This means that we are all – consciously or unconsciously – involved in decisions that have a direct impact on human rights and security thousands of kilometres away. What happened in Mozambique shows how important transparency, journalism, political control and social pressure are in exposing and preventing such risks.

We had countless discussions with Atradius DSB. We repeated the same concerns over and over again. We brought to their attention complaints from people who were being forced to move, and pointed out the rapidly escalating security situation. But while we heard the alarm bells ringing, Atradius remained convinced of the project's responsibility.

That is why we also alerted the relevant ministries. In 2020, together with Milieudefensie, Friends of the Earth Europe and SOMO, we submitted our first Freedom of Information requests to gain insight into the basis for that confidence. I could write a whole separate article, or book, about how those requests went and how complicated it still is.

In 2021, the violence escalated and an attack on Palma became a reality. The days of violence, and the aftermath, made it painfully clear how great the risks were that had been ignored.

We became increasingly close to Milieudefensie. And the issue remained alive in Dutch politics and the media: parliamentary questions, investigative journalism, an episode of Frontlinie, a motion that the minister refused to implement, several independent investigations. Thanks to our partners – and the stories we continued to share together with the communities of Cabo Delgado – Mozambique remained on the agenda.

Just over a year ago, journalist Alex Perry brought to light the horrific events that took place in the aftermath of Palma. These revelations put the Mozambique LNG project under even greater pressure.

In November, ECHHR filed a complaint against TotalEnergies for complicity in war crimes. The documents we obtained through our Freedom of Information requests proved crucial to that case. The recently published reports by Clingendael and Pangea Risk now confirm once again that the events described by Perry are likely to have actually taken place.

Meanwhile, we kept up the pressure: in close contact with members of parliament, by approaching journalists at crucial moments, and by working intensively with civil society organisations in other countries.

And now we have succeeded. Something I have not often experienced in almost ten years at Both ENDS: funding has actually been stopped. Atradius DSB's financing policy for TotalEnergies has been withdrawn. This was possible because we had been able to follow this case for years, without any guarantee that this result would be achieved. Once again, I am convinced that tirelessly monitoring problematic investments, even when it seems there is nothing more to be gained, is the right strategy for achieving change.

And this is not the end. For the people of Mozambique, the situation is far from resolved. TotalEnergies is finding other ways to finance the project. Van Oord continues to dredge, insured by the same Atradius DSB, no less. And justice for the victims is not in sight.

The parties that made this project possible, including the Netherlands, must take responsibility to ensure that Mozambique is not pushed further into the abyss and that justice is done for those whose rights have been violated.