Mali has remained mired since 2012 in a multidimensional crisis, with the main feature being the violence of jihadist organizations, separatist factions and paramilitary groups.
The Human Rights Watch (HRW) yesterday Monday accused Mali’s armed forces and “foreign” fighters, who it says apparently belong to the ranks of the Russian private military company Wagner, of having summarily executed dozens of civilians in central Mali since December 2022, during anti-jihadist operations.
“These abuses were committed during operations in response to the presence of Islamist armed groups in the villages of Ouenkoro, Segela, Sosobe and Tiofol,” in the central part of the country, as well as in the regions of Mopti and Segou, also in central Mali, the NGO report says.
It also refers to torture of prisoners, destruction or looting of civilian property.
Following the decision to withdraw the UN peacekeeping mission by the end of 2023, the NGO is calling on the African Union and the Community of West African States to put pressure on the Malian authorities to end crimes of this nature and hold those responsible accountable.
The new report follows an earlier one, released on July 13, that cited a proliferation of “murders,” “rapes” and “looting” on a large scale by jihadists of civilian casualties in northeastern Mali.
HRW cites the testimony of 40 people it interviewed: they spoke of the involvement of armed foreigners, non-French speakers, whom they described as “whites”, “Russians” or “Wagner’s people”.
The text emphasizes that bodies were found after a raid on February 3 by uniformed “whites” against the village of Segela, during which “beatings, looting and arrests of 17 men” were also recorded.
In another raid, in the community of Huenkoro, at least 20 civilians were killed, among them a woman and a child of about six years. This operation involved Malian military and “whites”, the NGO insists.
In its response to the NGO, Mali’s military regime said it was not aware of any human rights violations; it added that the prosecutor’s office had “launched an investigation into unknowns for war crimes and crimes against humanity.”
The military junta in power in Mali ended its traditional alliance with France and turned to Russia for political and military support. It denies that Wagner is operating on its territory: it refers to trainers of the Russian army, which were developed in the context of international cooperation.
The UN in May accused Mali’s army and “foreign” fighters of executing at least 500 people in March 2022 during an anti-jihad operation in Moura, in the central part of the country, which the junta denied.
Mali has remained mired since 2012 in a multidimensional crisis, with the main feature being the violence of jihadist organizations, separatist factions and paramilitary groups. It first broke out in the north, before spreading to the central part of the country and neighboring states, Burkina Faso and Niger.
Source :Skai
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