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The Minusma published this Monday, May 30, its quarterly note on human rights violations. The UN mission in Mali notes an increase in violence of more than 320% between January and March, compared to the end of last year.
The majority of the violence recorded by the Minusma was committed by the jihadists of the Support Group for Islam and Muslims (GSIM) and the Islamic State organization in the Greater Sahara (EIGS). According to the UN mission, the two groups killed more than 384 people in three months. The Minusma report also mentions 320 human rights violations attributed to the Malian armed forces between January and March, compared to 31 in the previous quarter. That is more than ten times more.
The Minusma notes that the Fama have multiplied anti-terrorist operations, » supported on some occasions by foreign military elements « . The words « Russian » or « Wagner » are carefully avoided, so as not to contradict the authorities in Bamako who always affirm that no Russian mercenary fights alongside Malian soldiers and that only « instructors » come to support the Fama for training assignments.
The Minusma thus reports 249 people killed in three months, as well as 26 injured and 45 kidnapped by the Malian forces, and therefore, in some cases, their foreign auxiliaries. The Minusma specifies that the majority of the victims belong to the Fulani community and lists a dozen operations during which the army is accused of abuses: in Tabacoro, Nia Ouro, Feto, Dangere-Wotoro, Ansongo, or even Moura, for example.
A difficult investigation
This village in the circle of Djenné, in the center of the country, was the subject of a military operation at the end of March, during which the army claims to have killed 203 people, all jihadists. The Minusma, she is investigating as best she can on allegations of summary executions of several hundred civilians. » Some estimates suggest that the number [de personnes tuées, NDLR] could reach more than 500. In addition to summary executions, specifies the UN note, security forces also reportedly raped, looted, arbitrarily arrested and detained many civilians during the military operation. »
In its response to the UN note, the Malian government recalls that Moura was a privileged meeting place for the Katiba Macina jihadists, that » terrorist fighters put up violent resistance » and especially that « the lifeless bodies examined are those of adult males believed to have died in combat. »
As for the testimonies, collected by numerous journalists and human rights defenders implicating the Malian soldiers and their Russian auxiliaries in the death of hundreds of civilians, they would come, according to Bamako, from » actors very often affiliated with terrorist groups and armed bandits having no other objective than to tarnish the image of the Malian forces. »
Malian military justice has opened an investigation. The Minusma has been waiting for almost two months for authorization to go to Moura, but has started to collect testimonies and cross-check the facts.
The Minusma note does not say so, but a UN executive revealed to RFI that the Malian security forces interrupted a meeting between UN investigators and survivors of Moura, at the end of April in Sévaré, in the center of the country. The investigators were arrested and detained for several hours. The witnesses remained in prison between two and five days, before being released.
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