Mali’s military junta sharply rejected a report by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights on a troop deployment against suspected Islamists in March last year. He was biased and based on a “fictional story,” said the report presented a few days ago in Geneva, which spoke of more than 500 deaths, executions and rapes during the operation in the village of Moura in the Mopti region.
In the statement published at the weekend by the government of the West African crisis state, referring to the public prosecutor’s office in Mopti, it said that the dead were mostly adult men. No civilians from Moura were killed.
The government also complained that the UN investigation teams were not on the spot to evaluate satellite images. According to the UN, investigators were denied access to Moura.
UN: “Extremely disturbing findings”
UN High Commissioner Volker Türk spoke of “extremely worrying findings” when the report was presented. “Executions, rape and torture during armed conflict constitute war crimes and, depending on the circumstances, may be crimes against humanity,” he said.
The military overthrew Mali’s transitional government in 2021. The new military government first promised elections in February 2022, but canceled them. The junta has announced that it will hold a constitutional referendum in mid-June to pave the way for democratic elections.
