Amnesty International Report 1994 - Mali

Eight suspected opponents of the former transitional government arrested in July 1991 remained in detention without trial throughout the year. Former President Moussa Traoré and three senior security officials were sentenced to death. There were reports that the army extrajudicially executed at least 20 civilians and summarily executed a soldier accused of theft. The government resigned in April following violent student demonstrations. President Alpha Oumar Konaré appointed a new Prime Minister whose government included members of opposition political parties. A new Ministry for Human Rights was created but later abolished in a government reshuffle in November. The government and the Mouvements et fronts unifiés de l'Azawad (MFUA), the Azawad Unified Movements and Fronts, an umbrella organization of Tuareg opposition groups, continued to implement the April 1992 peace agreement (see Amnesty International Report 1993). In February an agreement was signed providing for the integration into the national army of an initial group of 600 former Tuareg rebels. In May the President granted an amnesty to 10 Tuareg prisoners apparently convicted during the conflict between the government and armed Tuareg rebels. A few days later, Rhissa Ag Sidi Mohamed, the leader of the Front populaire de libération de l'Azawad (FPLA), the Popular Front for the Liberation of Azawad, who had opposed the April 1992 peace agreement, publicly renounced rebellion. However, the north remained unstable because of widespread banditry. Plans for the voluntary repatriation of an estimated 160,000 Tuareg and Moors who had taken refuge in neighbouring countries during the conflict were delayed. Later in the year, there were renewed attacks by armed groups against civilians, including representatives of non-governmental organizations operating in the north. It was unclear, however, whether these attacks were launched by politically motivated groups or by armed robbers. Major Lamine Diabira, a former Minister of the Interior, and seven other army officers arrested in July 1991 were detained without trial throughout the year. They had been accused of plotting to overthrow the transitional government which came to power after General Moussa Traoré was overthrown in March 1991 and were initially detained incommunicado and without charge. In June they were charged with conspiracy and attempting to overthrow the government by force but were not brought to trial. Further evidence became available during the year which suggested that Major Lamine Diabira had been detained solely because he had sought the prosecution of officers he claimed were responsible for abuses committed by General Moussa Traoré's government. In August the security forces detained six black Mauritanians near Kayes in southwest Mali, ostensibly on suspicion of armed robbery. Two of them, Mamadou Bocar Bâ and Lam Moussa, were representatives of a refugee organization based in Senegal, on an authorized visit to meet Mauritanian refugees. They were reportedly arrested solely because they were black Mauritanians and were released uncharged after 14 days. During 1993 several other black Mauritanians were reportedly detained and it was not clear whether any remained in detention at the end of the year. In December the authorities announced that a plot to overthrow the government had been foiled. This statement, however, was later disclaimed by the government who said that four soldiers had been arrested for unauthorized contact with General Moussa Traoré's former aide-de-camp, detained since July on charges of embezzlement. The soldiers were not known to have been charged by the end of the year. The trial of General Moussa Traoré and 32 former government ministers and officials ended in February (see Amnesty International Report 1993). General Moussa Traoré and three senior security officials were convicted by the High Court in Bamako on charges of murder and grievous bodily harm. They were convicted in relation to the killing by the army of 106 pro-democracy demonstrators in the days before the government was overthrown in March 1991. The 29 other defendants were acquitted. General Moussa Traoré and the three officials were sentenced to death. They lodged an appeal on points of law to the Supreme Court, but their sentences were confirmed in May. Their plea for clemency had not been considered by President Konaré at the end of the year. The four men faced further charges of embezzlement of public funds, together with General Moussa Traoré's wife, his eldest son and other former government officials. Judicial investigation of these charges continued but a trial date had not been set by the end of the year. No other death sentences were known to have been passed. There were reports that at least 20 civilians who had recently returned to Mali in accordance with the peace agreement were extrajudicially executed by the army in Adat Malene and Amaskore, near Goundam, in January. Three Tuareg were reported to have been killed by soldiers in December as they returned to Mali from a refugee camp in Mauritania, but the circumstances of the deaths were unclear. The soldiers said that the Tuareg had been shot while resisting arrest on suspicion of banditry. A commission of inquiry composed of security officials and representatives of Tuareg groups was reported to have been established, but its conclusions had not been made known by the end of the year. There were also reports that at least seven black Mauritanian refugees were extrajudicially executed in the region of Kayes in separate incidents between June and November. In August in Kidal, a soldier was reported to have been summarily executed by colleagues in public without any form of trial. The soldier, a former Tuareg rebel who had recently been integrated into the national army, was alleged to have been involved in armed robberies in Kidal. It was not known whether an official investigation was carried out into this summary execution. Armed Tuareg groups were also responsible for deliberate killings of civilians. For example, in February members of the FPLA abducted Mohamed Oudd Obeid, an Arab trader from Gao, who was later found strangled in a well. He reportedly supported a different Tuareg faction, the Front islamique arabe pour la libération de l'Azawad (FIAA), the Islamic Arab Front for the Liberation of Azawad. Later that month, in reprisal, members of the FIAA intercepted a convoy led by MFUA vice-president Aghatam Ag Alassane, who was on his way to meet Rhissa Ag Sidi Mohamed, the FPLA leader. Aghatam Ag Alassane was held briefly but other captured members of the convoy, including members of the FPLA, were held for longer periods before being released. In March Amnesty International urged President Konaré to exercise presidential clemency by commuting the death sentences imposed on General Moussa Traoré and the three others if they were confirmed on appeal. The President told the organization that its concerns would be considered.