Mali: the army says it is investigating reports of the murder of 53 civilians

#Mali : The Malian army said on Saturday that it had opened investigations into the assassination or not of 53 civilians in the center of the country, while denouncing the “disinformation” companies of certain media.

“Gendarmerie investigations have been opened to confirm or deny reports of an alleged murder of 53 civilians in the village (of) Gouni-Habé,” the Malian army said at the bottom of a four-page statement detailing its operations since the end of September.

It does not provide any details on the events themselves, nor on the source of the information mentioned.

Radio France Internationale reported in early September of abuses attributed by many local sources according to it to Malian soldiers, Russian auxiliaries and members of a community of traditional hunters in the village of Nia-Ouro, not far from Gouni-Habé. , in the Mopti region.

RFI spoke of rape, sexual abuse, theft and acts of looting.

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Nia-Ouro and the surrounding localities, known to harbor jihadists from the Katiba Macina, affiliated with Al-Qaeda, was the theater of operations for the Malian army for several days.

The presence alongside Malian soldiers of mercenaries from the private Russian company Wagner, whose actions are decried, is regularly reported.

But the junta in power since August 2020 denies it and speaks of Russian army instructors, dispatched in the name of an old and reinvigorated cooperation.

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The Malian army has long been accused of abuses, including by the UN mission deployed in the country. The authorities respond systematically to ensure respect for human rights and to initiate investigations if necessary. The results of these are virtually never made public.

“The General Staff of the Armed Forces once again calls for vigilance and restraint against these propagandist, brainwashing and disinformation tendencies of certain media whose sole purpose is to sow chaos, hatred, division and desolation in Mali,” the army statement said.

The feedback of information is very complicated in remote areas like Nia-Ouro, which are almost inaccessible for infrastructure and security reasons.