The conflict that is tearing Mali apart is marked by an increase in crimes committed against civilians in the center of the country, for which "impunity still reigns", deplores, Wednesday April 13, Amnesty International, in a new report analyzing the judicial response to these acts.

"Since 2018, the conflict has been characterized by an increase in abuses committed against civilian populations, particularly in the center of the country (Mopti and Ségou regions)", underlines Amnesty.

The document was produced before the events that took place at the end of March in Moura, Amnesty's office in Mali told AFP.

The Malian army says it has "neutralized" 203 jihadists in Moura when the NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW) accuses it of the summary execution of 300 civilians with the help of foreign fighters.

But Amnesty recalls several massacres committed between 2018 and 2021 of which jihadist groups, various armed groups, Malian soldiers are accused, as well as the controversial bombardment by Barkhane in January 2021 in Bounti, where the UN says the French force killed 19 civilians gathered for a wedding.

Paris vigorously refutes, saying the strike was aimed at jihadists.

For Amnesty, "some" of these "exactions" can "be qualified as war crimes, even crimes against humanity".

Despite repeated commitments by the Malian authorities, "the course of justice remains slow, frustrating the victims and their families, and reinforcing impunity", says Amnesty.

Obstacles "to justice and truth"

The NGO notes that "several trials have been held against presumed members of armed groups but for acts qualified as terrorism and unrelated to crimes committed against civilians", and that "no soldier has yet been tried for crimes committed by the army against civilians in the center of the country since 2018".

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Amnesty lists the insecurity that hinders Malian investigators' access to crime scenes, the lack of protection for victims and witnesses and the "illegal detentions" of suspects by internal intelligence as so many "obstructs to justice and the truth".

Amnesty calls for "greater political will, adequate technical and financial means and the support of the army and Minusma", the UN mission in Mali, to overcome these obstacles.

An official from the Ministry of Justice said at the end of March, in a message sent to the United Nations Human Rights Council, that the authorities were "resolved (to) put an end" to impunity.

He had admitted "slowness" in the investigations, but "this situation is not the result of a lack of political will but rather the result of security and material constraints".

Mali has been caught, since 2012, in the turmoil of jihadist violence which has spread from the north to the center and the south despite the deployment of foreign forces.

The conflict has become more complicated with the emergence of community militias and criminal gangs.

It killed thousands of civilians and combatants.

Central Mali is one of the main centers of the Sahelian crisis.

With AFP

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