A United Nations, UN report has lamented that civilian deaths and rights abuses attributable to the Malian armed forces and backed by “foreign military elements” have surged in the first quarter of 2022, with the killings seeing a 324 percent rise during the previous quarter.

A United Nations, UN report has lamented that civilian deaths and rights abuses attributable to the Malian armed forces and backed by “foreign military elements” have surged in the first quarter of 2022, with the killings seeing a 324 percent rise during the previous quarter.

The UN’s Malian mission, known as MINUSMA, in the report released on Monday said Malian Armed Forces, backed on some occasions by foreign military elements, increased military operations to combat terrorism some of which sometimes ended in serious allegations of violations of human rights.

However, the report did not identify the foreign military elements supporting the army.

It was learnt that the number of people killed in the first quarter of 2022 by all parties in the conflict rebels, self-defence groups and security forces quadrupled during the last three months of 2021, rising from 128 to 543.

The report said 248 civilian deaths were attributable to the defence and security forces.

MINUSMA documented 320 human rights violations by the Malian military in the January-March period, compared with 31 in the previous three months.

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