Western leaders condemn the massacre in Mali

Africa, Europe, News April 7, 2022 , by IRIA No Comments

Malian armed forces and foreign mercenary soldiers are being associated with the extrajudicial execution of 200 to 300 civilian men in the central Malian town of Moura last month.

The military sources have cited the executed individuals were Islamic Militant terrorists, however, many national and international non-government sources have claimed that there was no substantial proof that executed men were associated with Islamic Militant groups or any terrorist organizations.

A Human Rights Watch investigation on the matter concluded that the killed men were detained during the military operations that began in March 2022. The Human Rights Watch has termed this incident as one of the ‘worst single atrocity’ in Mali’s decade-long armed conflict.

The Malian Defense Ministry’s statement of April 1 stated that from March 21 to 31, the Malian armed forces had killed 203 ‘terrorists’ and arrested 51 more. The statement further explains that the operation was carried out in Moura because of an intelligence report that highlighted a high-level Kahtibat (battalion) meeting was about to take place in Moura.

The Sahel director of Human Right Watch Corinne Dufka stated on the incident, “Abuses by armed Islamist groups is no justification at all for the military’s deliberate slaughter of people in custody. The Malian government is responsible for this atrocity, the worst in Mali in a decade, whether carried about by Malian forces or associated foreign soldiers.”

*^{A Malian Army pick-up truck patrols the town of Konna on March 20, 2021 (Image Credit: AFP)}*

Mali has been in a decade-long insurgency that has affected millions of its residents while deteriorating the country’s volatile situation of poverty even further. The French military had been present in Mali for a long time playing an important role in fighting the insurgents and keeping the situation under control. Being a former French colony and a francophone country of 20 million people, Mali has close ties with France in Europe.

In February 2022 however, French President Emanuel Macron announced the withdrawal of the French forces from Mali. French withdrawal from Mali lead to a breakdown of relations between many government factions leading to a further intensify the already deteriorated situation. According to some western sources, since the French withdrawal from Mali, the Malian armed forces have hired 1000 Russian mercenaries from the Wagner Group, a private military company. However, both Malian and Russian officials have denied the presence of Russian mercenaries in Mali.

The U.S. State Department and French Foreign Ministry said that they are alarmed at the reports of extrajudicial murders by the Malian armed forces and their allies. Western sources have been suspecting the involvement of Russian mercenaries from the Wagner Group in the killings of the 300 men.

The U.S. State Department referred to the incident as a “reported massacre”. The State Department spokesperson Ned Price stated that “We are concerned that many reports suggest that the perpetrators were unaccountable forces from the Kremlin-backed Wagner Group.”

European Union’s top diplomat Joseph Borell urged the Malian government to allow the United Nations mission immediate access to the sites of the reported execution so the world could assess the severity of the situation.