The Malian army denies the attack on the village of Guelledjé. The government of the ruling junta since 2020 claims to have restored security in the country.
Le Monde with AFP
At least 13 civilians were killed on Sunday in central Mali by soldiers and “white soldiers”, on Monday October 31 told AFP of local elected officials and an official of a community association . Information however denied by a Malian military source.
France, Westerners and the United States accuse the Malian junta of having assigned the services of the Russian security company Wagner, to the actions decried. The Malian authorities deny and speak of cooperation with the Russian army in the name of an ancient relation of State to State.
“Sunday in Guelledjé, in the Circle of Tenenkou (Center), the Malian soldiers came in force with white soldiers. There were shots and arrests. We counted at least 13 dead”, A local elected official told AFP on condition of anonymity. The information was confirmed by another local elected official, also under cover of anonymity. Among the people killed, “there is a woman, her daughter and her granddaughter,” said this source.
A resident of Guelledjé, for her part, indicated that “the village was attacked because the army and the white military of Wagner consider that it is a locality of jihadists”. An official of the Tabital Pulakuu association, a collective for the promotion of the culture of the Fulani, one of the Malian ethnic groups, told AFP that it is “more than 20 civilians who were killed and arrested on Sunday in Guelledjé “, according to him of this community. “We do too much amalgams. Not all Fulani are jihadists. Those who have been killed are innocent civilians,” he added.
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This information was refuted by a Malian military source. “We categorically reject these accusations,” said this source to AFP.
Mali has been immersed in a deep security, political and humanitarian crisis since the trigger of independence and jihadist insurrections in 2012 in the north of the country.
The US Under-Secretary of State, Victoria Nuland, back from the Sahel, said on October 26 that security had deteriorated considerably in Mali since the junta appealed, according to the United States and their Allies, to Wagner’s mercenaries in 2021.
The military who took power by force in 2020 in Mali have diverted themselves for a year from the French ally and its partners, and turned to Russia. The government claims to have reversed the security trend and have stammered jihadist groups.
The Malian army has long been accused of abuses, including by the UN mission deployed in the country. On the contrary, the authorities ensure that human rights are ensured and diligent inquiry if applicable, but the results of these are almost never made public.