UN inquiry blames Dogon hunters for massacre

BAMAKO: A UN investigation on Tuesday blamed traditional Dogon hunters for massacres in central Mali that killed at least 24 members of the Fulani community in June.

The inquiry found that armed Dozo hunters, linked to the Dogon ethnic group, ambushed the isolated village of Koumaga in the Mopti region in June and shot dead the Fulani herders.

“All the victims were shot, with automatic weapons and traditional hunting rifles,” the report by MINUSMA, the UN mission to Mali, concluded.

“At least 24 people, all members of the Fulani community of Koumaga were killed by a group of people identified as traditional hunters (Dozos) during a series of attacks” on 23, 24 and 25 June.

Violence has increased over the past three years in central Mali between nomadic Fulani herders and Bambara and Dogon farmers, sparked by accusations of Fulani grazing cattle on Dogon land and disputes over access to land and water.

MINUSMA ‘recommended’ the Malian government deploys security forces in the central region of Djenne “most affected by attacks and likely to be attacked by the Dozos and other armed groups”.

It also called for the government to publicise the results of its own investigation into the massacres.

The Dogon and Bambara ethnic groups accuse the pastoralists of colluding with jihadists.