Mali sacks army officers, dissolves militia after over 130 Fula folk killed in massacre

BAMAKO: Mali's government on Sunday announced the sacking of senior military officers and the dissolution of an ethnic militia, a day after the massacre of more than 130 Fulani villagers, including women and children.

Prime Minister Soumeylou Boubeye Maiga said new military chiefs would be named, and that the Dan Nan Ambassagou association, composed of Dogon hunters, had been dissolved.

The dissolution of the militia was to send a clear message, Maiga told journalists: "The protection of the population will remain the monopoly of the state."

Survivors of Saturday's attack said ethnic Dogon hunters carried out the deadly raid in Ogossagou, a village in central Mali inhabited by the Fulani community.

While local attacks are fuelled by accusations of Fulani herders grazing cattle on Dogon land and disputes over access to land and water, the area is also troubled by extremist influence.

Maiga did not name the senior officers sacked, but defence ministry sources told AFP they were the Armed Forces Chief of General Staff M'Bemba Moussa Keita, and chiefs of the army and the air force.

The prime minister's announcement came hours after an emergency meeting called by President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita in response to Saturday's massacre.

At least 136 men, women, and children were killed in the attack, according to a "provisional toll", public television ORTM said late Sunday.

The television showed images of burned huts and livestock and shell casings in the village.

The victims were shot or hacked to death with machetes, a security source told AFP.

A government delegation led by Justice Minister Tiena Coulibaly went to the site of the massacre Sunday.

They were sent by the president to "tell the people of Ogossagou that what happened here is unacceptable and that it will not go unpunished," Coulibaly said.

'Predictable attack'

The UN Children´s Fund stated that the "Malian children are paying a heavy price for the intensification of violence."

"Growing insecurity since 2017 has led to an increase in murders, mutilations and the recruitment of children," UNICEF said.

For its part, the European Union called for "immediate steps (including) the disarmament and dismantling of all militias" in Mali.

Researcher Baba Dakono of the Bamako-based Institute for Security Studies told AFP the attack was "unprecedented" but "predictable" because of a weak state presence in the region.

It was the deadliest attack since the end of the 2013 French-led military intervention that drove back extremist groups who had taken control of northern Mali.

UN chief 'outraged'

The massacre took place as a delegation from the UN Security Council visited the Sahel region to assess the extremist threat.

"The secretary-general is shocked and outraged" by the bloodshed, Antonio Guterres's spokesperson said in a statement late Saturday.

The UN chief called on the Malian authorities "to swiftly investigate it and bring the perpetrators to justice", the statement added.

Guterres's spokesperson said the UN mission in Mali, MINUSMA, provided air support to deter further attacks and assisted with the evacuation of the injured.

The attack was launched at dawn on Saturday in the village near the border with Burkina Faso, in a district that has seen frequent inter-communal violence.

Extremist fighters have also emerged as a threat in central Mali in the past four years. A group led by radical preacher Amadou Koufa has recruited mainly from the Fulani community.

Since then, there have been repeated clashes between the Fulani and Dogon and last year the violence claimed some 500 civilian lives, according to UN figures.

In January, Dogon hunters were blamed for the killing of 37 people in another Fulani village, Koulogon, in the same region.

The Fulani have repeatedly called for more protection from the authorities. The government in Bamako has denied their accusations that it turns a blind eye to — or even encourages — Dogon attacks on the Fulani.

Once considered a beacon of democracy and stability in Africa, Mali in recent years has been dogged by a coup, civil war, and terrorism.

Extremists linked to Al-Qaeda took control of the desert north in early 2012 but were largely driven out in a French-led military operation launched in January 2013.

In June 2015, Mali's government signed a peace agreement with some armed groups, but the extremists remain active, and large tracts of the country remain lawless,

The violence persists despite the presence of UN peacekeepers, a strong French military contingent, and the creation of a five-nation military force in the region.