NEW YORK, USA
Jihadists, armed militias and the armed forces in Mali killed close to 600 civilians in 2021, the United Nations said Thursday, with casualty numbers rising towards the end of the year.
In the last six months of
2021, civilian killings rose 16 percent, according to a report by the United
Nation's peacekeeping mission in the troubled Sahel state, known as
Minusma.
Mali, an impoverished nation
of 21 million people, has over the past decade been wracked by a jihadist
insurgency. Vast swathes of the country are in thrall to myriad rebel groups
and militias.
Thousands of soldiers and
civilians have been killed and hundreds of thousands of people have been forced
to flee their homes.
Mali's under-equipped army has
also often been accused of committing abuses during the brutal conflict.
On Thursday, Minusma's human
rights division said 318 civilians had been killed in the country in the second
half of 2021, compared to 266 during the first six months.
Kidnappings, on the other
hand, decreased from 425 during the first half of 2021 to 343 in the second
half.
Jihadist groups had killed 206
civilians between July and December last year, and were responsible for
abducting or disappearing 239 others, according to the Minusma report.
Other armed militias killed 70
civilians over the same period, while Malian armed forces killed 25.
In one incident in October in
central Mali, the report said that Malian forces "arbitrarily executed at
least seven civilians," including an eight-year-old boy.
Mali's army-dominated
government has repeatedly denied accusations its military has committed
abuses.
French troops and soldiers
from neighbouring African states also operate in Mali.
The Minusma report said that
foreign troops were responsible for killing five civilians during the second
half of last year.
Human Rights Watch this month
also released a report accusing Malian soldiers and jihadist groups of a wave
of civilian killings. - AFP
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