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 specifies the course of the operation which 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 center of the country.
The Malian army would 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. From Friday, drones, planes and other military-deployed surveillance assets ” note the movements of several hundred terrorists, including a dozen “ base leaders “. Katiba Macina leader Hamadoun Koufa, who was apparently targeted by the army, has not been found.
On Sunday at 11 a.m., three special forces helicopters stormed the village. Several Malian soldiers – no precise figure was provided – then fell ” under heavy enemy fire “. The first communiqués from the army did not mention any loss among the Malian soldiers. Jihadist reinforcements are then “ neutralized by aviation and the ground device ” of the Army. One hundred and forty-five terrorists would thus have been killed ” Around by Moura.
Then, ” to avoid street fights “, the Fama cordon off the village and, the next day, call on the populations to regroup, before starting the “ raking “. Weapons warehouses catch fire while terrorists are inside, ” hence the charred bodies that some media and NGOs strive to pass off as burnt civilians “says the state daily, The Rise. Thursday, March 31, in the morning, the Malian special forces leave the village. Final balance sheet: 203 jihadists neutralized and 51 arrested. The presence of Russian fighters alongside the Fama is firmly denied.
Media around the world and Malian and international human rights organizations have reported allegations of abuses committed by Malian forces and their numerous Russian auxiliaries, including summary executions of civilians and unarmed jihadists, for a total assessment of at least 300 dead ”, according to Human Rights Watch, many sources going even further.
Allegations deemed “ unfounded by the army and by the Malian Minister for National Reconciliation who, after visiting Moura on Saturdaysaid : ” The populations did not mention any killings by our Fama “.
An investigation by the Malian Military Justice is underway. United Nations investigators have also been pre-positioned in Mopti since last week, but they have never obtained authorization to go to Moura.