Mali’s Fog of War: Refugees Tell of Terror, Hunger and Rape
Posted: April 30, 2012 Filed under: Mali | Tags: Ansar Eddine, AQIM, fog of war, Gao, human rights, Mali, MNLA, MUJWA, rape, sharia, Timbuktu, Tuareg, war crimes Leave a commentIt took Ibrahim Touré three weeks to escape from Timbuktu after rebels seized the desert town, but, in his heart, he hasn’t really left. The 26-year-old shopkeeper studies the floor as he talks, cradling a welter of scabs and fresh scar tissue on his right elbow. Sometimes he stops to rub his head with an uncertain hand — the unforgiving sun, maybe, or a reaction to the horrors he has seen and suffered. If what he says is true, then the fog of war in northern Mali — where Tuareg separatists, Islamic militants, Arab militias and a hodgepodge of terrorist groups are vying for control following a spectacularly successful military campaign — is concealing a grisly spate of human-rights abuses, humanitarian suffering and war crimes. Read the rest of this entry »
Clinging to power
Posted: April 17, 2012 Filed under: Mali | Tags: Ansar Eddine, AQIM, Bamako, Captain Amadou Sanogo, CNRDRE, Gao, human rights, Mali, military coup, MNLA, MUJWA, rape, Tuareg, UN Leave a commentEVERY morning a bus caked in dust pulls into Bamako bringing the latest rumours of war. Looking dazed and dehydrated after 24 hours on the road, Mohammad Maiga explains how Tuareg separatists and Islamist militants have turned his native Gao, northern Mali’s most populous town, into a ghost town. “Everyone is leaving,” says Mr Maiga. “There’s no food, no supplies.” Blackouts last all day. Banks and offices have been pillaged by rampant rebels. Read the rest of this entry »
julius cavendish 