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January 28, 2013

U.N. Urges Greater Assistance for Mali; Troops, Rebels Cited for Abuses 
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At the United Nations, refugee agency spokesperson Melissa Fleming
issued an appeal for more aid to Mali and said civilians in the north
are reporting ongoing abuses by the rebels.

Melissa Fleming: "We are renewing our appeal for an urgent scaling up of
international aid for the hundreds and thousands of people now displaced
by the war in Mali. This is to prevent a worsening of a now already very
acute fragile humanitarian situation across the Sahel. What really is
worrying us is the accounts that we are hearing from the internally
displaced and from refugees. A former resident of Gao for example, who
left the town, after recent air strikes, told us that all the food and
the fuel are in very short supply. They say that rebels have stripped
the city hospitals of medicines, and at the hospital, dead bodies are
said to be everywhere."

The Malian army is also facing allegations of attacks on civilians.
Human Rights Watch is warning that Malian forces have committed abuses
in the central town of Niono, particularly targeting Tuaregs and Arabs,
the ethnic groups linked to the rebels in the north.

 

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