MALI ADMITS SOLDIERS IMPLICATED IN KILLINGS

BAMAKO: Mali’s defense minister has admitted that soldiers were involved in killings in the country’s unstable center, after the discovery of a mass grave backed up accusations of summary executions by government troops. An NGO called Kisal, which campaigns for the rights of pastoral communities, said on Monday that 25 bodies had been found in three mass graves. It said 25 people from the Fulani ethnic group, who are mainly herders, had been picked up last week by the army in the localities of Kobaka and Nantaka. “The inspection mission sent to the area confirms the existence of mass graves implicating some armed forces personnel in serious violations causing the deaths of men in Nantaka and Kobaka,” said Defence Minister Tiena Coulibaly. Coulibaly ordered military prosecutors to open an investigation. He said in a statement the authorities were “firmly resolved to fight impunity and get soldiers to strictly observe international rights and humanitarian conventions”. President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita said the defence minister had sent a mission to the site and “we will assume the consequences” of the outcome of the survey. Central Mali is a vast area where the state is near-absent and jihadists roam with little constraint. The armed forces face increasing accusations of arbitrary arrests and extrajudicial killings in their fight against the insurgents.