Dakar - Villagers in central Mali said
six people found dead in a mass grave last month had been
arrested by the military three days earlier, an Amnesty
International report said on Tuesday.
The grave, uncovered in the Mopti region on March 25, is the
latest in a spate of killings and kidnappings ahead of a July
presidential election, that rights groups say are being
conducted by the army against suspected sympathizers of jihadist
groups.
The Malian government and military did not respond to
repeated requests for comment. The government has acknowledged
some abuses by its forces in the past but also rejects many
allegations made by rights groups.
"Civilians in Mali are living in fear," said Amnesty
International's West Africa researcher Gaetan Mootoo. "We are
urging the Malian authorities to investigate reports of enforced
disappearances and extrajudicial killings of civilians in the
central region."
Islamist insurgents seized control of Mali's northern desert
in 2012 before being driven back by a French-led military
intervention a year later. They have since regrouped and carried
out attacks further south, winning recruits by playing on local
grievances.
In Tuesday's report, Amnesty said 65 people had been killed
by improvised explosives used by armed groups since the start of
the year, raising concerns about the government's ability to
conduct presidential elections planned on July 29.
The U.N.'s independent expert on the human rights situation
in Mali reported in February that at least 43 people had been
victims of "enforced disappearance" by security forces during
anti-militant operations between May and June last year.
Mali's opposition SADI party has accused the army of
executing seven civilians who had been attending a religious
celebration in the village of Nangarabakan in the Segou region.