Group Warns Of Executions By Mali Army

Djenne, January 24, 2013 – A France-based human rights group is warning about dozens of “summary executions” and other abuses allegedly committed by Malian troops as they counter-attack jihadists holed up in the West African country’s hinterlands.

The International Federation for Human Rights, or FIDH by its French acronym, is calling for the creation of an independent commission to look into the crimes and punish those responsible.

The group said on Wednesday that Malian forces were behind about 33 killings – including of ethnic Tuaregs – since 10 January along the narrow belt between the government-controlled south and the north.

FIDH didn’t specify the source of its information. Journalists have been refused access to the area while trying to cover the French intervention that began on 11 January in support of Malian forces against the jihadists. AP