By RFPosted on 20-11-2018Modified on 20-11-2018 at 14:32

In Mali, the center has become the most dangerous zone in the country, according to a report by the International Federation of Human Rights and the Malian Association of Human Rights (AMDH). About 40% of all attacks in Mali are recorded there. Although the conflicts in the center, particularly between Fulani, Dogon, Bambara and Bozo communities, are not new, the conflict in the center has become much more heated. Nearly 1,200 people have been killed for two years and nearly 30,000 displaced and refugees.

There are several factors, according to the two NGOs , that may explain such a deterioration of the situation. First, there is the increased presence of Macina's katiba, led by Amadou Kufa, who is billed as one of the lieutenants of Iyag Ag Ghali, leader of the Support Group for Islam and Muslims (GSIM). Several examples of kidnappings or summary executions of state officials, imams, village chiefs or even inhabitants considered to be " collaborators " of the authorities are reported in the report. Just like testimonies of rapes, sometimes collective, practiced by these alleged jihadists. " Dozens of villages live under their yoke, " reads the report. When they control an area, they set up their tax or justice system and close the public schools. In March 2018, nearly one in three schools (264 out of 682) was closed in the Mopti Academy, according to the administration's figures.

Then there are the creations of community militias. Like Da Na Ambassagou , a Dogon militia created in 2016, and the Alliance for the Salvation of the Sahel, militia Peule created early 2018. These armed groups who defend their ethnic group or community attack civilians, sometimes generating massacres. According to the document, at least 500 people were killed, 50 villages burned between January and August because of community clashes.

And finally, there are the Malian armed forces which, according to this survey, are responsible for about 20% of human rights violations since the beginning of the year. Responsible for a " caravan of death ", an anti-terrorist operation, called Dambe, launched in 2017. During six targeted operations between February and July 2018 in Sokolo, Dioura, Finadje, Dogo, Boulikessi and Nantaka, at least 67 people have been summarily executed and there are at least six mass graves. The response of the authorities did not reach the AMDH and the FIDH at the time of concluding their report.

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