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Human Rights Watch (HRW) issued a report accusing the Malian Army and alleged Russian mercenaries of murdering around 300 people in Moura, a town in the center of the country, in an alleged anti-jihadist operation last March. The NGO, which cited witnesses to the massacre, stated that it is the “most atrocious” event recorded in the African nation during the 10 years of conflict against Islamic extremism.
“It is the worst atrocity reported in a decade of armed conflict in Mali,” Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on April 5.
At least 300 civilians were executed in a massacre that lasted five days, between March 27 and 31, in Moura, in the center of the country, says a new HRW report.
The organization dedicated to the investigation and defense of human rights points to Malian soldiers and alleged Russian mercenaries as the alleged perpetrators.
According to the testimonies of 17 witnesses interviewed by the humanitarian organization, dozens of Malian soldiers and “Russian-speaking white men” arrived by helicopter in the town and exchanged fire with Islamist fighters. A confrontation in which rebels, soldiers and civilians died.
But the bloodshed did not stop there. The troops then fanned out across the city, carrying out summary executions of several men, then rounding up hundreds more unarmed individuals from their homes and taking them to a nearby river bank.
Those attacked were held for five days under the sun and arbitrarily selected to be shot at nightfall, the same sources said.
According to witnesses, most of the deceased were merchants from nearby towns who came there to attend the weekly cattle market. Some were “infiltrated” militants, the interviewees assured.
Their bodies were piled in three mass graves, HRW said.
Moura, the rural town of some 10,000 inhabitants where the events took place, is located in the Mopti region, the focus of jihadist activity that has intensified and spread to neighboring countries in the Sahel region.
More than a hundred alleged Russian mercenaries would have participated in the massacre
According to multiple security sources who spoke to HRW investigators, more than 100 Russian-speaking white men were involved in the killings.
Different survivors also described “white soldiers” speaking an unknown foreign language, which they believed to be Russian.
“Seven Russians approached, waving us to get up. There were no Malian soldiers with them. They searched us and the house, then took us to the east of the village, near the river, where we found another 100 men,” he said. A trader told HRW that he was having tea with his two brothers while waiting for market day to start when he heard gunshots.
Hundreds of Malian civilians may have been killed by the military and Russian mercenaries of the Wagner Group last week in #Moura, central Mali. One of the worst mass killings in the decade long war therehttps://t.co/z5Zvn19urx
— Elian Peltier (@ElianPeltier) April 4, 2022
“Another group of Russians pointed to my brothers and another man. I thought they were going to interrogate them. They took them several meters away and executed them at point-blank range,” he added.
This information has not yet been confirmed by the authorities of any country.
The Mali Army version
The Army of the African country reported last Saturday, April 2, that it had killed more than 200 Islamist militants in the Moura operation.
The nation’s transitional government, which took power in a military coup in 2020, says it is fighting the insurgency with the help of private military contractors belonging to Russia’s Wagner Group.
The United States and the European Union ask the Malian authorities to allow an independent investigation.
“Mali’s general staff did not mention civilian casualties in its report on the operation (…) This is contradicted by possible witness statements that mention the targeted killing of civilians,” the German Foreign Ministry said.
Despite admitting the participation of Russian citizens, both Bamako and Moscow have previously indicated that they are not mercenaries but “trainers” who help local troops with equipment purchased from Russia.
Wagner, established in 2014 to support pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine, is a group allegedly financed by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a powerful businessman closely linked to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is currently facing sanctions for the Kremlin’s war on the territory. ukrainian
However, Prigozhin and the Russian government reject any involvement in human rights violations.
With Reuters and AP
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