Mali: HRW Demands Protection of Civilians

Human Rights Watch (HRW) says the government of Mali needs to do more to meet its responsibility to protect civilians.

The human rights organisation made this known following reports of extrajudicial killings in N’Dola, Mali’s central Ségou region.

Reports say eight people, including a young boy and a man in his 80s, were found dead in N’Dola.

However, a government spokesperson, who acknowledged the army conducted an operation near N’Dola that day, 25 October, denied involvement in any extrajudicial killings in the village.

‘The UN and others have also reported on Dozo abuses in Ségou since late 2020, including the kidnapping of numerous villagers for ransom, the killing of community leaders who refused to join their ranks, and the alleged gang rape of a woman’, HRW said in a statement.

‘Tens of thousands of villagers have fled their homes in recent months because of the violence.

‘The Malian government needs to do more to meet its responsibility to protect civilians. The authorities need to investigate allegations of abuse by the military as well as opposition armed groups and bring those responsible to justice.

‘The UN and Mali’s international partners should increase calls for investigations, accountability, and better protection of civilians’.

Since late 2020, the Ségou region has been rocked by clashes between Al-Qaeda fighters from Jama’at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin (JNIM) and the army and a pro-government militia known as the Dozos.

The human rights organisation said it received separate allegations of other recent abuses in Ségou region including the killing of a local elder by local defence forces, and the decapitation of a captured civil defence force member by an armed group.

Mali has been mired in crisis since 2012, when a northern separatist rebellion led by the minority ethnic Tuareg community prompted a military coup.

An insurgency linked to al-Qaeda and Daesh/ISIS, which has killed thousands of civilians and troops, has also spread to neighbouring Niger and Burkina Faso.

The UN mission in Mali has recorded over 200 deaths since 2013, making it one of the deadliest UN peacekeeping missions.

Source: Human Rights Watch

Photo source: United Nations

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