Mali slams 'fictitious' UN report on military operation killings

Mali's military junta has denounced as "fictitious" and "biased" a UN report that said the army and foreign fighters executed at least 500 people during a 2022 anti-militant operation.

Denouncing revelations that the UN had used satellites to gather information for its report, the authorities also announced an investigation into "espionage".

The statement came on Saturday, a day after the UN released its long-awaited report into the events that unfolded in the central town of Moura between March 27-31, 2022.

"No civilian from Moura lost their life during the military operation," said a statement read out on state television by government spokesperson colonel Abdoulaye Maiga.

"Among the dead, there were only terrorist fighters."

Condemning what it called a "biased report based on a fictitious narrative", the government also expressed surprise that the UN investigators had used satellites above Moura to gather information, without government clearance.

It was launching an investigation into espionage, attack on the external security of the state and "military conspiracy", it added.

Damning report

The figures cited by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights [OHCHR] amount to the worst atrocity the Sahel country has experienced since a militant insurgency flared in 2012.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said the findings were "extremely disturbing" and it included "Summary executions, rape and torture during armed conflict amount to war crimes and could, depending on the circumstances, amount to crimes against humanity.”

Türk urged Malian authorities to respect the rules of international humanitarian law and international human rights law when engaging in any military law enforcement operation.

It is the most damning document yet against Mali's armed forces and their foreign allies.

The nationality of the foreign fighters is not explicitly identified in the report, but Mali has brought in Russians that western countries and others say are Wagner mercenaries.