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UN Reports Alarming Surge of Violence in Mali's Mopti Region

by Lisa Schlein

   GENEVA --

   The United Nations Human Rights Office reports an alarming surge of
   intercommunal violence in Mali's central Mopti region. The U.N. says
   hundreds have been killed in recent months as Fulani herders and
   Bambara and Dogon farmers fight over land and water resources.

   But the spokesman for the U.N. Human Rights Office, Rupert Colville,
   says the current intercommunal violence has taken a particularly nasty
   turn.

   "In recent weeks, U.N. human rights staff in the country have
   documented an alarming trend of civilians being driven from their
   homes, either after being directly targeted themselves, because of the
   community they belong to, or after deadly attacks on members of their
   community in neighboring villages," Colville said.

   Colville says MINUSMA, the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Mali, has
   documented 99 incidents of intercommunal violence since the beginning
   of the year, resulting in at least 289 civilian deaths. He says
   three-quarters have occurred in Mopti -- the vast majority since May.

   The ethnic groups accuse each other of having ties with al-Qaida-linked
   terrorists who have been operating in the region since 2012.

   MINUSMA has documented dozens of particularly brutal attacks in
   villages, mosques and homes, according to Colville. He says civilians
   -- young children and elderly alike -- have been shot, and in some
   cases burnt alive inside their homes.

   "This escalating violence in parts of the Mopti region has led to
   widespread displacement of a civilian population already vulnerable due
   to a lack of protection and basic social services provided by the
   state," Colville said.

   The U.N. Human Rights Office is calling on Malian authorities to take
   urgent measures to prevent further serious violations and abuses of
   human rights in the region, including those committed by government
   forces.