Renewed abuses by ethnic Tuareg rebels and Malian army soldiers are a step backward for human rights protection in northern Mali, Human Rights Watch said. On June 5, 2013, army forces began a military offensive to recapture the Kidal region.
On June 1 and 2, forces of the Tuareg National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA), which still controls parts of the Kidal region, arbitrarily detained about 100 people, most of them darker-skinned men from non-Tuareg ethnic groups. Witnesses told Human Rights Watch that the MNLA robbed, threatened, and, in numerous cases, severely beat the men.
Since early May, Malian soldiers have committed serious abuses, including torture and other mistreatment against at least 24 rebel suspects and villagers in the Mopti region, witnesses and victims told Human Rights Watch. The majority of those held were ethnic Tuareg or Bellahs, a Tuareg caste.
“The recent abuses by both sides and renewed fighting around Kidal underscores the urgent need for Malian soldiers and rebel combatants to respect the laws of war, minimize civilian harm, and ensure the humane treatment of detainees,” said Corinne Dufka, senior West Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Civilians across the ethnic divide have already suffered enough.”
Malian authorities should accelerate redeployment of gendarmes, police and Justice Ministry personnel throughout the north to deter abuses by government soldiers, Human Rights Watch said. The MNLA should end abuses against civilians and hold those responsible to account.
Kidal remains the only region of Mali that is not fully under government control since the French-led military operation in January drove armed rebel and Islamist groups from the north. Since May, the Malian army had appeared poised to retake the town of Kidal in advance of planned July elections. The army has been conducting patrols and other military operations throughout the north, where the security situation remains precarious on account of periodic infiltration by armed Islamist groups, as well as criminal banditry.
The recent abuses in northern Mali and renewed fighting could intensify already elevated ethnic tension ahead of the July elections, Human Rights Watch said. The government has said Kidal must be under government control before the elections and the MNLA has said it will resume fighting if the Malian army tries to recapture Kidal. Negotiations to reach a political solution to the standoff in Kidal are underway. Human Rights Watch had earlier called on all warring parties to abide by the laws of war in the event of a Malian military offensive against opposition armed groups in the Kidal region.
Enhanced civilian protection along with robust measures by the Malian government to investigate and prosecute abuses by all sides is crucial for improving human rights in northern Mali, Human Rights Watch said.
“There are real security threats in Mali, but brutalizing detainees and civilians is not the way to address them,” Dufka said. “The military command should fulfill its pledges to hold soldiers to account for their unlawful actions and counter this wave of indiscipline within the Mopti region.”
