UN accuses Mali soldiers of retaliatory attacks

The UN's human rights body on Tuesday accused Malian soldiers of carrying out retaliatory attacks that appeared to target specific ethnic groups, and demanded that Mali investigate and bring the perpetrators to justice.

The preliminary findings of a UN mission to Mali last month showed "that the recent military intervention in the north of Mali was followed by a serious escalation of retaliatory violence by government soldiers who appear to be targeting members of the Peuhl, Tuareg and Arab ethnic groups," UN Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights Kyung-wha Kang said. The mission was ordered by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay to substantiate reports of serious human rights violations in the northern territories recovered from Islamist rebels following a French-led intervention that began in January.

France launched a military operation on January 11 to prevent Al-Qaeda-linked groups that had occupied northern Mali for nine months from pushing south and threatening the capital Bamako.

The groups apparently targeted by Malian soldiers "are perceived to be supportive of the armed groups," or retreating Islamists, Kang told diplomats at the Human Rights Council in Geneva.

The "situation has been exacerbated by the propagation of inflammatory messages, including through the media, stigmatising members of these communities, thousands of whom have reportedly fled out of fear of reprisal by the Malian army," Kang said.

AFP