Faizel Patel, Radio Islam News – 29-03-2019
A journalist based in Senegal has told Radio Islam the massacre in Mali was so gratuitous that the remains of the people that were burnt were set to stone.
The raid took place on Saturday in the village of Ogossagou, home to the Fulani herding community, near the town of Mopti in central Mali.
Local officials and security sources told AFP news agency that the death toll had climbed to 160, while the UN rights office said at least 153 people were killed and 73 were wounded.
According to Ravina Shamdasani, spokeswoman for the UN rights office, The “horrific attacks” marked a “significant” surge in “violence across communal lines and by so-called ‘self-defence groups’ apparently attempting to root out violent extremist groups”.
Speaking to Radio Islam Amandla Johnson says this was not just a massacre but rather a gratuitous killing.
“Militia burnt the village down, they burnt livestock, animals. There are reports of a ten-day-old baby killed alongside the mother, people thrown into a ditch of burning oil before being fired upon. A village chief capture and summarily executed in front of his own mother. Pregnant women, elders killed. It was so bad that some of the remains of people were literally set to stone because of the way they had been burnt.”
The UN has sent a team of 10 human rights officers, a child protection officer and two crime scene investigators to the Mopti region to investigate Saturday’s attack.
Listen to the interview with Amandla Johnson
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