Source: Amnesty International –
The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and Amnesty International condemn the extrajudicial executions of around 20 civilians committed, according to witnesses, by the Malian armed forces (FAMa) accompanied by Dozo militia fighters in Diafarabé, a commune in the cercle of Ténenkou in the Mopti Region.
The two organizations are calling on Malian judicial authorities for an independent, impartial and diligent investigation to shed light on these incidents and bring the perpetrators to justice. FIDH and Amnesty International denounce the serious crimes repeatedly committed against civilians by the warring parties in the context of the conflict in Mali. The events that occurred in Diafarabé may constitute war crimes.
The two organizations are warning the international community and Mali’s international partners about the urgent need to take concrete measures to support both the fight against impunity and victims’ rights to truth, justice and reparations.
Initially, they arrested at least 30 people […] they released anyone who wasn’t Fulani.
A survivor
On Monday, 12 May, the day of the weekly market in Diafarabé, during a patrol around 10 Malian soldiers accompanied by Dozo militia fighters from Diafarabé and surrounding areas arrested at least 30 men at the local livestock market, according to witnesses interviewed by the two organizations. Though some were released immediately, between 23 and 27 men were taken, bound, blindfolded and transported onto canoes on the south bank of the river, before their throats were slit and their bodies buried in mass graves.
One survivor recounted: “On Monday, at around 11am, six soldiers in plain clothes arrived at the small livestock market, followed by uniformed FAMa soldiers. They surrounded the market and started arresting people. Initially, they arrested at least 30 people, but after quickly checking their ethnicity, they released anyone who wasn’t Fulani. They tied our arms and blindfolded us. They led us to the opposite bank, near the Danguere Mamba cemetery some distance from the village. Once we arrived at the place where they had already dug pits, the soldiers and the Dozo militia fighters began slitting people’s throats one by one. I wasn’t tied up properly, so I lowered the blindfold covering my eyes and saw them slitting the throat of my older brother, who was the third victim. I fled as they slit the fourth person’s throat. They tried to shoot me twice, but I managed to reach the river and swim across. I want to make it clear that Dozos, including some from Nouh Bozo, participated in these executions.”
Immediately after 12 May, the people of Diafarabé denounced the arrests and organized spontaneous protests to demand information about the fate of their husbands and relatives.
Some of us were able to identify our relatives from among the victims.
A member of the delegation that went to the site
One of the female protesters explained to FIDH and Amnesty International: “We tried to go to the scene of crime to see for ourselves because we had heard two gunshots, but the soldiers stopped us. They told us that the people who had been arrested were alive and promised to bring them back to us the next day. This did not happen. On 14 May, a delegation of military authorities came from Mopti to listen to the locals. That’s when we received confirmation that our loved ones were gone forever, because they acknowledged their execution and promised to punish the perpetrators.”
At around 5pm on 15 May, with the military’s permission, local councillors, traditional authorities and victims’ relatives crossed the river to view the victims’ remains.
One of the members of the delegation told FIDH and Amnesty International: “To prevent us from filming the crime scene and bodies, the military prevented us from carrying smartphones to the scene. When we arrived, we saw the stacked, rotting corpses of our slaughtered loved ones. Some of us were still able to identify our relatives from among the victims. There were about 22 bodies. When we returned, the women began the ritual mourning of their husbands because everyone now knew that they had been killed by the military.”