Relatives of Mali attack victims rally, demand more support

BAMAKO: Hundreds of wives and children of Mali soldiers slain in a spate of jihadist attacks rallied in two central towns, calling for more support for the military.

The towns of Segou, a regional capital, and Sevare saw the victims' relatives gather to urge more government backing, participants told AFP.

Th rally came after an attack in the central city of Dioura killed 26 people, according to a latest official army toll, with Bamako decreeing three days of official mourning from Friday.

President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita has demanded a tough security line but that has failed to pacify the victims' families.

The rally at Segou saw a group of women block traffic by sitting down in the middle of the road while children who had lost fathers to attacks set tyres ablaze, witnesses said.

“We've been told helicopters have been bought for the army – where are they? Why don't they use them?” demanded one woman, Fatoumata, who said she had lost her husband in the Dioura attack.

“Hundreds of women and children are here to demonstrate at Segou to denounce a lack of resources for the army,” said Oumar Toure, a teacher.

“We don't want our husbands to keep dying like this,” other women chanted at a rally at Sevare, near Mopti, another central capital in the country's centre.

Some protesters at Sevare called for the president to resign, local media quoted them as saying. — AFP