“We would like to congratulate the Malians for this important victory in the fight against the terrorist threat”underlines the press release.
No involvement of Russian mercenaries
The Russian ministry has called “disinformation” the allegations of the massacre of civilians in this village in central Mali, as well as those of the involvement of Russian mercenaries in this operation, accusing the West of having “staged” a campaign to “emphasize Moscow’s involvement in war crimes”.
(RE) see: Mali: two contradictory versions of the attack in Moura
“We are not indifferent to the fate of the Malian people, we are bound by traditionally friendly relations with this country”assures the press release of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“We have helped our Malian friends and we will continue to do so”he adds.
France wants a UN investigation
The head of French diplomacy Jean-Yves Le Drian questioned the version of the Malian authorities who claim to have “neutralized” 203 jihadists in Moura.
“The Bamako authorities announce 200 terrorists killed, with no civilian casualties. I find it hard to believe, I find it hard to understand, I find it hard to accept these explanations”, he said on the France 5 channel this Friday. And he added “We need a United Nations investigation and we are asking for it.”
“It is the role of the United Nations to carry out this investigation (…) except that at present they do not have the right to access the central area where these abuses were committed a priori”underlined the French Minister of Foreign Affairs.
(RE)read: Suspected massacre of civilians in Mali: the UN calls for urgent access to the town of Moura
The Malian army and witnesses interviewed by the press or the NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW) offer diametrically opposed versions of the events that took place between March 27 and 31 in Moura, in a region which is one of the main hotbeds of Sahelian violence.
Rape and looting
The army says it has “neutralized” 203 jihadists during a major operation. The witnesses quoted report a mass of summary executions of civilians, rapes and acts of looting committed by Malian soldiers and foreign fighters presumed to be Russians.
According to the NGO Human Rights Watch a trader who had come to Moura market from a nearby village recounted witnessing the execution of 19 men, including two of his brothers, over a four-day period by white soldiers he believed to be Russian, because of the information broadcast on the radio and heard around him on the presence of foreign troops in Mali.
Another group of Russians pointed at my brothers and another man. I thought they were going to interrogate them. They took them several meters away and executed them at close range.
Testimony collected by Human Rights Watch
“My two brothers and I were at a friend’s house, we were having tea while waiting for the market to start when we heard gunshots. Seven Russians approached, waving us up. There was no Malian soldiers with them, they searched us and the house, then they took us to the east of the village, near the river, where we found about a hundred other men. […] Another group of Russians pointed at my brothers and another man. I thought they were going to interrogate them. They took them several meters away and executed them at close range. In the following days, I saw others, in groups of two or three, killed in the same way… nineteen in all.”
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