May 12. (EUROPE PRESS) –
The United Nations has affirmed this Friday that there are “firm indications” that more than 500 people were massacred by the Malian Army and “foreign military personnel” during an operation in March 2022 in the city of Moura, located in the Mopti region. (center), in what Bamako described as a crackdown on terrorism.
“These conclusions are extremely disturbing”, said the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, who recalled that “summary executions, rape and torture during armed conflicts constitute war crimes and could, according to circumstances, amount to crimes against humanity”.
The report presented by a fact-finding mission from the UN Human Rights Office indicates that most of the victims were summarily executed during the Army operation, in which mercenaries from the Wagner Group, owned by the Russian oligarch, would have participated. Yevgeni Prigozhin, close to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The mission has reported that the Malian military junta rejected the demands for access to Moura, so the investigations have focused on conversations with victims and witnesses, as well as with medical and judicial information sources, in addition to satellite images obtained from area.
The operation, which according to the military authorities targeted the Macina Front, linked to the branch of the terrorist organization Al Qaeda in the country, was launched on March 27, 2022, when a military helicopter flew over Moura before opening fire on the population. After that, dozens of soldiers arrived at the scene in another four helicopters and surrounded those present in the center of the village, shooting at those who tried to escape.
Faced with this situation, several members of the terrorist group present in the place opened fire on the military, which led to combat that resulted in the death of about 20 civilians and twelve presumed members of the Macina Front. Over the next four days, around 500 people were executed by the Malian Army, with 238 victims already identified.
Witnesses called by the fact-finding mission have recounted that they saw “armed white men” collaborating with the Malian Armed Forces and even supervising the operations, in which soldiers went house to house looking for suspected terrorists and executing people with beards, those who wore pants that did not reach the knee, who had marks on their foreheads that could indicate prolonged prayers or fear.
In this line, they have affirmed that a group of men was transferred to an area to the southeast of the village, where they were executed with shots to the head, back or chest, after which the corpses were thrown into a pit. Those who resisted or tried to flee were likewise killed by the military and “armed white men” and their bodies were likewise thrown into the mass grave.
On the other hand, the fact-finding mission has determined that at least 58 women and girls were raped or subjected to other forms of sexual violence, including a case in which the military took bunk beds from a house to a garden to rape several women in turn. women who were forced into beds.
In addition, dozens of people were arrested during the operation, some of whom were subjected to torture and ill-treatment during interrogations in Moura, Sévaré and the capital, Bamako. One of the victims has detailed that both she and other detainees were punched, slapped and kicked in the head while the soldiers branded them jihadists and accused them of killing their own brothers and destroying their country.
“It is essential that the Malian authorities take all necessary measures to ensure that Malian forces involved in military and police operations, including foreign military personnel under their command or control, fully respect the norms of humanitarian law,” Turk stressed. Mali announced the opening of an investigation, but has so far not published any conclusions.
The Malian Army indicated in early April 2022 that its forces had “neutralized” more than 200 fighters from “armed terrorist groups” during Moura between March 23-31. It also indicated that another 51 people had been detained, while “significant amounts of weapons and ammunition” had been recovered, according to the statement from the Armed Forces.
Mali and the rest of the countries of the Sahel have experienced an upsurge in violence in recent years, both by groups linked to the branches of the terrorist organizations Al Qaeda and the Islamic State that operate in the region, as well as by inter-community groups. In addition, abuses by security forces have helped these groups to swell their ranks.
