Hundreds of people – civilians according to NGOs – were killed between March 27 and March 31 in Moura, in a region that is one of the leading homes of Sahelian violence.
Le Monde and AFP
Malian military justice announced on Wednesday, April 6, the opening of investigations on the recent events of Moura (Center), where testimonies show the mass execution of civilians by Malian soldiers and foreign fighters.
Following the “allegations of alleged abuses committed on civilians, surveys were opened by the National Gendarmerie on Instructions of the Ministry of Defense and Veterans Affairs to conduct in-depth investigations in order to make all the light on These allegations, “wrote in a statement the Prosecutor with the military court of Mopti, big city near Moura.
The prosecutor will visit “very soon” on site with investigators and a medical exam, adds the press release. The authorities dominated by the military who came to power by force in 2020 were pressed from all sides to open an independent investigation into the facts between the 27th and 31st of March in Moura, in a region which is one of the main homes. Sahelian violence.
Diametral versions opposite
The Malian army and witnesses interviewed by the press or the Human Rights Watch (HRW) NGO offer diametrically opposite versions. The army says “neutralized” 203 Jihadists during a major operation. The cited witnesses report a mass of summary executions of civilians, rapes and deeds of looting committed by Malian soldiers and alleged foreign fighters being Russians.
HRW asserts that 300 civilians, some of which suspected of being jihadists, were executed, and speaks of the “worst episode of atrocities” from the unleashing of violence in Mali in 2012. Wednesday, the independent expert. The United Nations on human rights in Mali, Alioune Tine, mingled his voice with those of France, the United States, the European Union or the Malian Commission on Human Rights to ask for an investigation.
UN spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said in front of the press in New York that the United Nations had opened an investigation and that the experts of the UN mission in Mali (MINUSMA) sought to visit the site ” as quickly as possible “. Such a displacement is subject to the goodwill of the Malian authorities. The communiqué of the military court of Mopti does not say anything about the possibility that its investigations combine non-Malian investigators.
A denounced impunity
In 2021, investigators of the Minusma Human Rights Division had visited the site of a French anti-jihadist strike Barkhane in Bounti (Center) on January 3rd. Their report concluded in March following the death of 19 civilians together to celebrate a marriage, and not just jihadists like Paris has always maintained it.
The Malian army, like others in the Sahel, is regularly accused of abuses. The army ensures investigating each time it is necessary. But rights defenders constantly denounce the fact that such actions remain unpunished. The onusian expert Alioune Tine urged the Malian authorities to “grant unhindered access to the Human Rights Division so that it can conduct a thorough investigation”.
“Given the serious allegations of mass crimes, dozens of civilians who have been killed during these operations, I ask the Malian authorities to carry out a thorough, independent, impartial and effective investigation as soon as possible”, said Mr. Tine. The conclusions of these investigations will have to be made public, he added.
The events of Moura have for the backdrop of the current reconfiguration since the junta turned away from France and its European allies, and turned to Russia to resume the land lost to the jihadists since 2012.