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Mali Condemns as 'Fictitious' and 'Biased' UN Report on Alleged Murders by Military

© AP Photo / Misper ApawuThe seat of the representative of Mali
The seat of the representative of Mali - Sputnik Africa, 1920, 15.05.2023
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In its report on the events that occurred in Mali's central town Moura between 27 and 31 March 2022, the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said it had "reasonable grounds to believe that at least 500 people were killed in violation of norms, standards, rules and/or principles of international law".
The transitional government of Mali has condemned as "fictitious" and "biased" a UN report that says the army and foreign fighters executed no fewer than 500 people in the town of Moura during the 2022 anti-Jihadist operation.

"No civilian from Moura lost their life during the military operation," said a statement read out on state television by government spokesman Colonel Abdoulaye Maiga. "There were only terrorist fighters among the dead."

Condemning what it termed "a biased report based on a fictitious narrative," the government also voiced surprise that UN investigators used satellites over Moura to collect information without government authorization.

The government initiated an investigation into espionage, encroachment on the state's external security, and "military conspiracy", the statement added.

The victims were allegedly "executed by the FAMa (Malian Armed Forces) and the foreign military," the report, published after a lengthy investigation by the human rights division of the UN peacekeeping mission in Mali, MINUSMA, said.

The publication of the UN report, which comes just weeks before the expiration of the mandate of the UN Mission in Mali - renewed every year at the end of June - should make the already turbulent relations between the government and MINUSMA even worse than they are at present, local media argue.

Against the backdrop of continuing protests demanding that MINUSMA leave the country, with some protesters reportedly accusing the mission of undermining country's sovereignty, in early May, Germany started to withdraw troops from Mali, aiming to complete the process by May next year.
German flags wave in front of the Reichstag building, host of the German Federal Parliament Bundestag, in Berlin, Germany. (File) - Sputnik Africa, 1920, 29.04.2023
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Another Western country that decided to pull its military out of an African state was France. Its troops left Mali on 15 August 2022, after the local government announced the termination of bilateral defense agreements.
Earlier, Mali's top officials, including its Foreign Minister, Abdoulaye Diop, accused the European country of supporting terrorist groups inside the African country.
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