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While the Minusma has been waiting for more than a week for the green light from the authorities to investigate in Moura, the Malian army is specifying the course of the operation that took place there between March 23 and 31. Details have been distilled in recent days, especially this weekend on the occasion of the passage of a ministerial delegation in this village in the middle of the country.
The Malian army is said to have been informed of a meeting scheduled for Sunday, March 27 in Moura by the Katiba Macina, affiliated with the Support Group for Islam and Muslims (GSIM), linked to AQIM. Starting Friday, drones, aircraft and other military surveillance equipment “watch the movements of several hundred terrorists, including a dozen” basic leaders Katiba Macina leader Hamadoun Koufa, who was apparently targeted by the military, has not been found.
At 11 a.m. on Sunday, three special forces helicopters stormed the village. Several Malian soldiers – no exact figure was given – then fell” under heavy enemy fire The army’s first communiqués did not mention any loss among the Malian soldiers. Jihadist reinforcements are then “ neutralized by aviation and ground equipment “from the army. One hundred and forty-five terrorists would thus have been killed” all around by Moura.
Thereafter, ” to avoid street fights “, the Fama cordon off the village and the next day calls on the population to regroup before the “ rake “Weapons warehouses catch fire while terrorists are inside”, hence the charred bodies that some media and NGOs are trying to pass off as burned civilians “says the state daily, The rise† In the morning of Thursday March 31, the Malian special forces leave the village. End balance: 203 jihadists neutralized and 51 arrested. The presence of Russian fighters alongside the Fama is strongly denied.
Media around the world and Malian and international human rights organizations have reported allegations of abuse by Malian troops and their numerous Russian auxiliaries, including summary executions of civilians and unarmed jihadists, for a comprehensive assessment of at least 300 dead According to Human Rights Watch, many sources go even further.
Accusations deemed” unfounded by the military and by the Malian Minister for National Reconciliation who, after visiting Moura on Saturdaysaid : ” The population did not report murders by our Fama †
An investigation by the Malian military judiciary is underway. United Nations investigators have also been pre-positioned in Mopti since last week, but they were never allowed to go to Moura.
