A United Nations report that said the army and foreign fighters murdered at least 500 people during a 2022 anti-jihadi campaign was rejected on Saturday by Mali’s military junta as false and unfair.
The authorities announced an espionage probe while denouncing revelations that the U.N. had utilized satellites to acquire data for its report.
The U.N.’s long-awaited report on the events that took place in the central town of Moura between March 27 and March 31 of 2022 was issued the day before the announcement was made.
Colonel Abdoulaye Maiga, the government’s spokesperson, delivered a statement on state television that declared “No civilian from Moura lost their life during the military operation.” “Only terrorist fighters were among the dead.”
The administration expressed amazement that the U.N. investigators had utilized satellites above Moura to gather material without getting permission from the government, condemning what it called a “biased report based on a fictitious narrative.”
It said that it was opening an investigation into “military conspiracy,” “attacks on the state’s external security,” and espionage.
According to the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Sahel nation has endured the worst atrocity since an Islamist conflict broke out in 2012.
The evidence against Mali’s armed forces and their foreign supporters is also the strongest yet in this dossier.
The article does not specifically identify the nationality of the foreign fighters, but Mali has brought in Russians who Western nations and other parties claim are Wagner mercenaries.
