Moura massacre: Mali announces an investigation into the work of the UN, with what objectives?

A MINUSMA member on patrol in December 2021. (Illustrative image) AFP - FLORENT VERGNES

Text by: David Baché

3 min

Malian transitional authorities announced the opening of a judicial investigation against the UN fact-finding mission "and its accomplices" for "espionage," "undermining the external security of the state," and "military conspiracy." Announcement made Saturday night in a statement, in reaction to the publication last Friday of a United Nations report on the massacre of Moura, in March 2022. Report claiming that at least 500 people were executed by the Malian army and its Russian auxiliaries during this so-called "anti-terrorist" operation. What exactly should this investigative work announced by the Malian transitional authorities focus on?

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This work "will concern aspects related to the taking of images by satellites used by the United Nations fact-finding commission," explains Mahamadou Konaté, doctor of public law, specialist in international law and humanitarian law at the University of Bamako. So it would be for the investigation to determine whether these satellites violated Malian airspace or not. There is, of course, a certain height that enters the sovereign space of the state. In practice, generally, it is 22km above the territory. Beyond that, it is normally considered international airspace.

UN investigators were not allowed by the Malian transitional authorities to visit the village of Moura. They therefore proceeded, in particular, by collecting the testimonies of victims or inhabitants of the village of Moura. Could the Malian judicial investigation also concern these testimonies?

« Fine-toothed comb »

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Yes, says researcher Mahamadou Konaté, who also taught for several years at the National Staff School of the Army of Mali. I think they can always listen to witnesses who have cooperated with the United Nations investigators to verify what they are saying. Some question the credibility of the facts reported, so all this really has to be combed through by our own justice, to quickly give the sustained and official version of the Malian government.

But Ousmane Diallo expects absolutely nothing from this investigation. A researcher at Amnesty International's regional office for West Africa in Dakar, he himself worked on the Moura massacre and in recent months published with Amnesty findings that are consistent with those of the UN report. For him, the announcement by Bamako of an investigation into the work of UN investigators is to be read "in the context of the standoff between the Malian authorities and in particular MINUSMA.

« Bullying and frustration strategy »

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This is part of a strategy of intimidation and frustration that has been taking place since the first allegations about Moura, says Ousmane Diallo. Malian authorities had obstructed access to Moura for MINUSMA investigators. They had also intimidated some of the survivors and nationals of Moura who were interviewed by MINUSMA investigators, and therefore by this famous fact-finding mission. This is politics! The Malian authorities must respond to a national audience, that is to say that the strategy of martial discourse against external partners, this sovereignist, populist discourse, allows them to establish a legitimacy that they do not have from a democratic point of view. We will also see the renewal of MINUSMA's mandate in a month's time, the authorities' objective being to limit MINUSMA's human rights mandate and make the mission a mission that is not in charge of human rights or justice issues but rather a mission in support of the political and military objectives of the Malian authorities.

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Read on on the same topics:

• Mali
• Terrorism
• Criminality