It is a damning report. The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights "has reasonable grounds to believe that at least 500 people were killed in violation of norms, standards, rules and/or principles of international law" between 27 and 31 March 2022 in Moura, central Mali, says the report, of which France 24 obtained a copy.

In early April 2022, the Malian army announced in a statement that it had just conducted an anti-jihadist operation in Moura with 203 "terrorists" put out of action. NGOs are contesting. Human Rights Watch reports the summary execution of 300 civilians. The controversy swells.

The Malian military justice announces the opening of an investigation. For its part, the UN mission in Mali (MINUSMA) is launching its own investigations. A difficult task for Guillaume Ngefa, head of the human rights division of MINUSMA, and his team. The final report highlights that the Malian junta has consistently denied MINUSMA access to Moura outside of a first flight.

MINUSMA's investigation will last six months and satellite images will be used. In early February 2023, Guillaume Ngefa, a real bête noire of Malian power, was declared "persona non grata" by Bamako and he will be expelled from the country, shortly after a meeting devoted to Mali at the UN headquarters in New York.

Fishing port of Moura (place of grouping of execution of the villagers). A hole that was widened by the villagers and used as a mass grave. © UN

Faces of the victims and the troops who carried out the operation

"The fact-finding mission concluded that the airborne and ground military operation (was) conducted by the Fama (Malian Armed Forces) and foreign military personnel," foreigners described as white men in fatigues speaking an "unknown" language. The document does not give more details on "foreign personnel" but recalls that Bamako has always claimed to benefit from the experience of Russian "instructors" in its fight against jihadists, and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has acknowledged the presence in Mali of the Russian private security company Wagner. In early May, denying the death of some of his soldiers in Mali, the group's leader Wagner Yevgeny Prigozhin indirectly acknowledged their presence on Malian soil.

On the victims, the UN advances: "These 500 people, including twenty women and seven children, would have been "executed by the Fama and foreign military personnel (...) . The High Commission also has "reasonable grounds to believe that 58 women and girls were victims of rape and other forms of sexual violence".

In the forty-page report, the Human Rights Division of MINUSMA specifies that the Malian army and its foreign partners arrived on March 27 in the locality of Moura with five helicopters, while a fair was held there in the presence of thousands of civilians who came to stock up shortly before Ramadan. One of the aircraft reportedly opened fire "indiscriminately" towards the market. Jihadists, some of whom had mingled with the crowd of civilians, then returned fire and 35 people (civilians and jihadists) were killed.

In Moura, for at least four days, the Malian military and their allies "reportedly selected several hundred people who were summarily executed for at least four days," the report said. The men to be executed were reportedly chosen on signs such as wearing long beards making them suspicious. Those killed were reportedly buried in mass graves.

Mass grave dug by villagers. © UN

Several testimonies of survivors ...

According to the information gathered by the United Nations, the United Nations stresses: "The military inflicted inhuman and degrading treatment and torture on those captured in the context of the military operation conducted from 27 to 31 March. (...) These people were tortured in Moura, Sévaré (center) and Bamako. Some were interviewed in Bambara and Fulani about their activities. One victim testified: "My eyes were closed. The soldiers slapped us, punched us, trampled us with kicks on the head, beat us with cords and with the butts of their weapons. They called us jihadists, accused us of killing our own brothers and destroying our country. I told them that I didn't know any of this and that I'm not a jihadist. We spent about two or three hours in a cell. They then brutally put us in a vehicle, dragged some on the ground, then in a plane that took us to Bamako." Another victim said: "The Malian soldiers handed me over to the State Security (intelligence services) where I was tortured and electrocuted to sex during my hearings, which lasted for hours, for six days before taking me back to Camp 1 (of the Gendarmerie) in Bamako."

The report concludes with recommendations to the Malian government to ensure "that the announced investigations into possible violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law in Moura are conducted in an independent, impartial, effective, comprehensive and transparent manner (...) and prosecute "all alleged perpetrators with a view to establishing their responsibility""

In its working methodology to investigate the events in Moura, the UN report states: "As part of this special investigation, the fact-finding mission conducted 157 individual interviews with a variety of sources, including victims of rape and other forms of sexual violence, members of the Peuhl, Rimaibè and Bozo communities from 18 localities. The mission also conducted 11 focus group interviews, including with individuals with direct knowledge of the incident, during which 140 individuals were interviewed. The mission also interviewed internally displaced persons who left Moura following the military operation to seek refuge elsewhere..."

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