The interim military government in Mali has rejected a report from the United Nations Human Rights Office that accused its soldiers and unidentified foreign militants of executing at least 500 people last year.
The report was released on Friday following a months-long investigation into what human rights organizations described as one of the worst atrocities in a decade-long conflict between Islamist groups and the military.
Government spokesperson Abdoulaye Maiga stated in a release on Saturday that "the transitional government strongly condemns this biased report, which is based on a fictional narrative and does not meet established international standards." He added that the government "is conducting an investigation into potential human rights violations during the operation," but reiterated previous statements that "the dead were armed members of the Islamist groups, not civilians."
He noted that "no civilian from Moura was killed during the military operation. The dead were only terrorist fighters, and all those arrested were handed over to the gendarmerie," emphasizing the authorities' commitment to protecting human rights.
The UN Human Rights Office claimed that the report "is based on interviews with injured individuals and witnesses, as well as forensic reports and satellite images." It added that Mali's authorities "rejected requests from the UN fact-finding team to access the village of Moura itself."
Maiga explained that the authorities opened a judicial investigation against the fact-finding mission for allegedly not requesting permission from the authorities prior to obtaining satellite images of Moura, which he described as a "covert maneuver targeting Mali's national security."
The report highlighted that Malian soldiers and foreign fighters arrived by helicopter in the village of Moura on March 27, 2022, and opened fire on residents as they attempted to flee. In the following days, hundreds more civilians were shot and their bodies dumped in trenches.
