Amnesty International condemns ‘rights breaches’ in Mali
Amnesty International has condemned ‘serious human rights breaches’ including the killings of ‘three children’ in the French war in Mali.
The rights organization said in a statement on Friday that it had found evidence during a ten-day investigation in Mali that several cases of atrocities had been committed in the country since January 11, when France launched a war under the pretext of halting the advance of fighters.
“There is evidence that at least five civilians, including three children, were killed in an airstrike” carried out by French forces against the local fighters, Amnesty said.
The organization also said the Malian army had committed “serious human rights breaches plus violations of international humanitarian law (IHL)” including “extrajudicial executions of civilians.”
According to witness testimonies collected by Amnesty, the Malian army “arrested and extrajudicially executed more than two dozen civilians, mainly in the northern city of Sevare” on January 10.
On Thursday, Human Rights Watch condemned the rights abuses in Mali and called for an investigation into the alleged reprisal killings by French-backed Malian troops.
The African office of the rights group based in Johannesburg called on French forces to minimize atrocities against civilians.
The UN Security Council is considering plans to deploy peacekeepers to assist the French forces.
Meanwhile, battalions of troops from Niger and Togo have arrived in the Malian city of Gao to reinforce the French war. The city was controlled by anti-government fighters for nearly ten months, but it was seized by the French military last week.
Analysts believe motives to exploit untapped resources including oil, gold and uranium in the region are behind the multinational military campaign in Mali.
