A Human Rights Watch (HRW) report blames the Malian Armed Forces (FAM) and jihadist groups for a fresh “wave of executions”.
The New-York-based international watchdog, whose mission is to defend human rights and respect for the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, accuses the Malian army and the Islamists of committing “atrocities.”
The Malian army and armed Islamist groups have reportedly killed at least 107 civilians in central and southwestern Mali since December 2021, HRW said in its report.
The victims, the majority of whom were allegedly summarily executed, according to HRW, include shopkeepers, village chiefs, religious leaders and children.
According to HRW, Malian security forces committed “abuses” during counterterrorism operations in the village of Tornou.
Based on eyewitness accounts, the NGO said that “14 civilians of the Dogon ethnic group were summarily executed by soldiers,” apparently in retaliation for the death of two soldiers by improvised explosive device (IED) at the site.
“The soldiers dragged two octogenarians and four other people to the site of the mine explosion and executed them on the spot,” one witness said.
In early March, the report said, soldiers allegedly carried out extrajudicial killings of at least 35 suspects whose charred bodies were found near the hamlet of Danguere Wotoro, in the Segou region, HRW said in its report, noting that this was the most serious allegation involving members of the government military since 2012.
Mali’s Ministry of Defense and Veterans Affairs described the accusations as “fake news” on March 11, with the aim of “discrediting the Malian Armed Forces).”
On the other hand, HRW, which has been following the situation in Mali since 2012 and the outbreak of the jihadist insurgency, cites alleged killings of civilians by armed Islamist groups.
On January 16, witnesses who spoke to the NGO said that “armed Islamist fighters executed four ethnic Dogon men who had been forced out of a convoy of traders … on the grounds that they were supporting a village defense force.”
Among the abuses blamed on jihadist groups, HRW cited the December 2021 massacre of 32 people aboard a bus from Songho to Bandiagara in the center.
Local residents told the group that “Islamist fighters fired shots at a bus taking traders to a market in Bandiagara in early December 2021, killing 32 civilians, including at least six children.”
In a letter to the transitional government on March 4, 2022, the rights NGO called for investigations into these crimes.
“These are allegations. Because Human Rights Watch is not a judicial body, but rather an NGO with a different method of working, namely working with testimonies,” said Corinne Dufka, the Sahel director of Human Rights Watch.
“That is why we have recommended that the Malian government conduct thorough investigations to identify the perpetrators of these alleged killings and establish the veracity of the accusations,” she added.
The Secretary General of the Ministry of Defense and Veterans Affairs indicated in a response dated March 11 that the gendarmerie had opened investigations into the incidents in some localities and that these were still ongoing, the HRW said.
CD/fss/as/APA