Malian authorities on Thursday cast doubt on the "
credibility
" of a UN report which claimed the day before that the number of people killed in the country rose by 54% in 2022 and blamed more than a third human rights violations to the Malian army and its allies.
This report "
does not give any details on the sources of verification of the reported cases
" and does not allow the government to conduct "
if necessary a confrontation and investigations
", assured the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in response to a quarterly note from the UN on human rights violations between October and December 2022.
According to the Malian authorities, certain cases of human rights violations reported by the UN have been verified on the basis of "
documents published by state and non-state organizations
" and interviews conducted remotely.
This method "
raises the question of the credibility of all the information collected under these conditions
", believes Bamako.
Abuses on the rise
The number of people killed in 2022 (1,277) recorded an increase of 54% compared to 2021 (584), assured Wednesday the UN Mission in Mali (Minusma).
According to her, “
694 human rights violations, or 35% of the total number of violations, are attributable
” to elements of the Defense and Security Forces (FDS), “
sometimes accompanied by foreign military personnel
”.
These data do not include the violations denounced in Moura, where according to the NGO Human Rights Watch 300 civilians were massacred at the end of March 2022 by Malian soldiers associated with foreign fighters, possibly Russians.
The Malian army has denied, claiming the elimination of more than 200 jihadists.
The UN report on these alleged abuses has not yet been published.
Serious security crisis
The Bamako regime turned to Russia in 2022, "
instructors
" according to the junta, mercenaries from the Wagner group involved in multiple abuses according to several Western countries.
Tensions with the human rights division of Minusma have increased with the coming to power of the military in Mali, after two successive coups in 2020 and 2021 in a country facing a serious security crisis.
The junta is openly blocking Minusma's human rights investigations, and in February expelled the head of the UN mission's human rights division.
