Alarmed by the development, the international watchdog Human Rights Watch (HRW) has outrightly condemned the summary execution of an estimated 300 people, including suspected armed fighters during a military operation conducted by Malian forces and foreign fighters.
In a statement obtained by newsmen, HRW described the massacre which happened in the central Malian town of Moura during a military operation as “the worst single reported atrocity in Mali’s decade-long conflict”.
HRW’s Sahel director, Corinne Dufka said “Abuses by armed Islamist groups is no justification at all for the military’s deliberate slaughter of people in custody”.
She added that “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”.
It’s imperative to note that according to Article 3 of the Geneva Convention, mass killing is a breach of international law that prohibits abuses against captured combatants and detained civilians.
Mali’s defence ministry had earlier issued a statement saying that 203 “terrorists” were killed during an air-land military operation from March 23 to April 3.
Local reports have it that the rights group gathered the account of 27 people, including community leaders, diplomats, security analysts and witnesses from Moura – a town of about 10,000 residents that has been the epicentre of violence waged by the armed group since 2015.
In its report, HRW concluded that Malian soldiers and foreign fighters, which several sources identified as white non-French speaking soldiers, executed in small groups several hundred people in the city over the course of several days.
The HRW report cited a witness as saying “Over the four days, the soldiers ordered the detained men in groups of four, six, or up to 10, to stand up and walk for between several dozen and several hundred meters”.
The witness continued that “There, the Malian and foreign soldiers summarily executed them,” adding that some victims were shot in the head, while other groups of men were sprayed by gunfire.
One resident reportedly said “The sound of gunfire rang out in our village from Monday to Thursday”.
Also, residents confided on HRW that since January many white, non-French-speaking armed men were taking part in military operations in and around the central Malian towns of Sofara, Ségou, Mopti, Diabaly, and Belidanédji among others.
The report stated that the vast majority of those killed by the Malian military and allied forces, were men from the pastoralist Peuhl, or Fulani, an ethnic group from which armed groups have heavily recruited in the past.
Dufka said “The Malian government should urgently and impartially investigate these mass killings, including the role of foreign soldiers”.
She added that “For such investigations to be sufficiently independent and credible, the authorities should seek assistance from the African Union and the United Nations”.
