Authorities in Mali have questioned the “credibility” of a UN assessment that predicted a sharp rise in fatalities in 2022 and assigned the army responsibility for more than a third of all human rights abuses.
Bamako claimed that in order to verify some of the information in the report, which was released by the UN’s MINUSMA Mali mission on Wednesday, “documents published by state and non-state organizations” and interviews conducted remotely were utilised.
It stated that “this technique raises concerns regarding the veracity of all the information acquired.”
1,277 fatalities were reported in Mali in 2022, up from 584 the year before, according to MINUSMA.
Additionally, it said that security forces, who were “sometimes accompanied by foreign military personnel,” were responsible for 35% of human rights breaches.
These numbers do not include the abuses that took place in Moura, where 300 residents were allegedly massacred by Malian army working with foreign fighters in late March 2022, according to Human Rights Watch.
The Malian army disputes this and asserts that it has killed more than 200 jihadists.
There has not yet been a UN report on these alleged atrocities.
In 2022, the junta in Mali started working with what it refers to as Russian “instructors”. These are mercenaries from the Wagner organization, according to the opposition.
The leader of the UN mission’s human rights division was ejected from Mali in February.
AFP