Civilians in the #Sahel are increasingly threatened not only by radical armed actors and ethnic self-defence groups but similarly by national armed forces in the name of #counterterrorism. Thread on a few recent publications on #Mali #Niger #Burkina:
1/ This piece underlines recent summary executions and enforced disappearances by Sahelian National security forces in the name of counterterrorism. liberation.fr/planete/2020/0…
3/ @hrw report on recent summary execution in #Djibo, northern #Burkina stresses how the difference between radical actors and armed forces vanishes especially for #Peulh hrw.org/news/2020/04/2…
4/ “Both jihadists [armed Islamists] and the army threaten and kill us,” an elder said. “Both have prevented us from going to the market to buy and sell.” #Burkina hrw.org/news/2020/04/2…
6/ Rémi Carayol with a gruelling account of recent atrocities, including the one in #Inatés, #Niger where 102 people disappeared after being arrested by national armed forces and where mass graves have been discovered in the aftermath. orientxxi.info/magazine/au-sa…
7/ The author asks how the latest series in atrocities by state forces is linked to the #Pau summit and concludes: “the need for results in counterterrorism seems to take precedence over any other consideration” orientxxi.info/magazine/au-sa…
8/ The Oxford Groups @Remote_Warfare podcast on the protection of civilians: guests @signecold and Peter Albrecht of @diisdk discuss #Mali as the latest example of a classic challenge to UN missions: what to do when there is no peace to keep? #MINUSMA oxfordresearchgroup.org.uk/protection-of-…
9/ They outline the area of tension between complicity of international actors in supporting the same armed forces accused of atrocities and the question what can be “expected from external actors in a region that they barely understand?“ @diisdk @Remote_Warfare
10/ Lastly, recent UN numbers indicate that + 100 extrajudicial executions have been committed by Malian security forces in first quarter of 2020, as well as 30 extrajudicial executions by Nigerien army on Malian territory during the same period. #MINUSMA africaradio.com/news/mali-nomb…
11/ Important thread (in fr) by @lepetit_peulh on the continuation of atrocities by #Burkina state security forces last Saturday, this time in the #Mentao refugee camp 5 km south of #Djibo that houses thousands of Malian refugees.
12/ #UNHCR on #Burkina forces #Mentao: "At least 32 people injured, some seriously (...) Security forces undertook house-to-house searches in the camp and allegedly forced refugee men and boys out of their homes, beating them with sticks, belts and ropes." unhcr.org/news/press/202…
13/ #HRW calling for investigation of extrajudicial killings of 12 men detained in #Burkina's #Est region in the context of a counterterror operation. "Witnesses who saw and buried the bodies said it appeared the men had all been shot in the head." hrw.org/news/2020/05/2…
14/ Dynamics of counterterrorism in #Burkina: "Numerous #Peuhl men from villages around Tanwalbougou had in recent months been executed or forcibly disappeared after their arrest by local gendarmes (..)victims too frightened to respond to local gendarmes" hrw.org/news/2020/05/2…
15/ New @ACLEDINFO piece by @MENASTREAM highlighting how #G5 "government forces are inherent to prevailing conflict dynamics in the central #Sahel, and these actors routinely commit atrocities with impunity." acleddata.com/2020/05/20/sta…
16/ @CorinneDufka on rising state violence: "(...) the lack of strong public demarches by international partners have been perceived as a green light by the armies in question, whose leaders appear to feel no fear of being held to account.” @_Will_Brown
telegraph.co.uk/global-health/…
telegraph.co.uk/global-health/…
17/ "In #Mali and #Burkina Faso where the situation amounts to a non-international armed conflict, the deliberate killings of unarmed civilians by security forces could meet the qualification of war crimes." #Sahel amnesty.org/en/latest/news…
18/ @JosepBorrellF on the involvement of state security forces in the killings of civilians in #Mopti, #Mali in the name of #counterterrorism: "Nothing can justify abuses that will only strengthen the very people we are fighting against. " #Binedama eeas.europa.eu/headquarters/h…
19/ New @hrw report calling for justice for apparent war crime in #Niger as a video emerged showing "government soldiers in a military vehicle running over & killing 2 alleged Boko Haram fighters who appear unarmed and wounded" See thread by @j_pedneault hrw.org/news/2020/06/1…
20/ #Parly on state atrocities in the name of #counterterrorism: “Political leaders of the #Sahel countries are perfectly aware of what’s at stake (...) They see the gap widening each time atrocities are committed, between the people and the authorities." rfi.fr/en/africa/2020…
21/ @ruthmaclean for NYT on the effect of #counterterrorism in #BurkinaFaso "Government security forces are now killing about as many people as jihadists do (...) At least 2,000 people are thought to have been killed in Burkina Faso in the last 18 months" nytimes.com/2020/06/22/wor…
