A team of United Nation experts has revealed that the Malian army and “white soldiers” were involved in the deaths of 33 civilians, including 29 Mauritanians and four Malians in Mali.
The accusation was made in a report by United Nations experts.
The revelation comes a day after it released exclusive about the ongoing Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Tension between neighbouring countries, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo was aroused again on Thursday as a United Nations group of experts said it has “solid evidence” that Rwandan troops have been fighting alongside the M23 rebel group.
In March, Africa News Watch reported that the foreign ministry of Mauritanian had accused Mali’s army of crimes against Mauritanians after protesters in the capital charged they had been killed “in cold blood”.
The alleged death of these civilians on 5 March in Robinet El Ataye, in the Segou region near the Mauritanian border, had caused a stir in Mali and Mauritania.
According to the report by the UN team, at 8.30am (local and GMT) on 5 March, “a group of white soldiers” arrived at Robinet El Ataye, a village with a well frequently used by Malian and Mauritanian herders seeking pasture.
The soldiers “rounded up the men, including teenagers, tied their hands behind their backs and blindfolded them.
“They were then herded into the middle of the village” while “the women and children were ordered to go home and not to look”, the Group said, adding that it was unable to visit the site but had collected several testimonies.
The deployed soldiers then “stripped the houses of all possessions, including bedding, mobile phones, jewellery, cooking utensils and clothes.
At 11am, “a group of FAMas”, the Malian Armed Forces, “arrived in the village”, the text continues. They “started beating the blindfolded men” using “the sticks used by shepherds on their flocks.
“The women”, locked in the houses, “could only hear the cries of the men who were being beaten”, the Group notes. The “FAMAS then freed some of the younger men, and took away 33 men, 29 Mauritanians and four Malians (Tuareg)”
Mauritania shares a 2,000-kilometre (1,200-mile) border with Mali, where the junta seized power in 2020.