By Le Figaro with AFP
Published on 05/13/2023 at 23:31
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Colonel Abdoulaye Maiga, Malian government spokesman. EDUARDO MUNOZ / Portal
The Malian junta on Saturday condemned a “biased report based on a fictitious narrative” in response to the UN, which the day before accused the army and “foreign” fighters of executing at least 500 people in an anti-jihadist operation in Moura have in March 2022.
According to government spokesman Colonel Abdoulaye Maiga, the Malian courts have launched an investigation into the events in Moura. “No civilian from Moura lost his life during the military operation,” he said in a statement read on state television. “Among the dead were only terrorist fighters,” he added.
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” READ ALSO – Mali: At least 500 people would have been executed by army and ‘foreign’ fighters in 2022, according to UN
As documented in the report of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the events in Moura (center), about which conflicting versions have reigned for a year, are the worst of their kind in a country nonetheless familiar with the atrocities committed by jihadists and other armed groups since 2012. The report is the most incriminating document produced against the Malian armed forces, which have been implicated on numerous occasions in the past.
The High Commissioner “has reasonable grounds to believe” that between March 27 and 31, 2022, in this town of a few thousand inhabitants, “at least 500 people, including around twenty women and seven children, were executed by the Malian armed forces and foreign military personnel “. Inhabitants, it says in the text.
This report is based on an investigation by the human rights department of the Blue Helmet Mission (Minusma), which has been stationed in Mali since 2013, 157 individual interviews and 11 group interviews.
In response, the Malian government said it was “surprised” to learn that the fact-finding mission had used satellites over Moura to obtain images “without permission and without the knowledge of the Malian authorities” and said it would “open an investigation immediately.” “. “espionage, attack on the external security of the state” and “military conspiracy”.