The revelations made Friday, April 22 by the French army on the staging of a mass grave in Gossi, in the north of the country, led the Malian army to react in the evening.
After these revelations made by the French army, the Malian army reacted, in a press release published this Friday evening. ” Following the official handover ceremony from the camp occupied in Gossi by the Barkhane force last Tuesday, a first detachment of the Malian army was immediately deployed there, then reinforcements on Wednesday. ” From the night “, indicates the press release of the Malian army, this force ” came under indirect fire on the right-of-way “, whose authors are not specified.
A patrol is sent in the immediate environment of the camp », which discovers the mass grave.
The army indicates that an investigation was immediately opened, with the dispatch of a mission composed in particular of the military commander of the sector, his legal adviser and the provost in the locality of Gossi “ to confirm the facts “.
” In this context “, continues the press release, “ the general staff of the armies of Mali deplores the fact that the Fama are maliciously the subject of communications aimed at misleading their rise in power and altering their image. »
The press release states that “ the state of advanced putrefaction of the bodies indicates that this mass grave existed well before the handover of the camp, and that Therefore », the Fama cannot be held responsible.
No reference is made to the presence of Russian auxiliaries, presented by the French army as mercenaries from the Wagner Group who themselves buried these bodies. The Malian army concludes its press release by recalling its attachment to respect for human rights and humanitarian law.
► Read also: Les Sous de l’infox: In Gossi, staging of a mass grave to discredit the French army