Civilians Pay Heavily in Sahel Manoeuvres Against Militants
National and foreign forces deployed to fight terrorism in the Sahel are increasingly harming civilians. Figures from the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project indicate that security forces caused more civilian fatalities in Mali and Burkina Faso in 2020 than violent extremist groups or communal violence. Things aren't getting any better in 2021. French Operation Barkhane, Chadian contingents of the G5 Sahel Joint Force and other national and international forces in the region, have recently faced serious allegations of human rights violations against locals. These range from rape and sexual assault to deliberate or mistaken killings of civilians during operations.
Civilians are increasingly caught in a vice. On the one hand, violent extremists continue to target entire villages in brutal attacks. Since the beginning of 2021, over 300 people have died in an unprecedented series of assaults in western Niger alone. This includes some 203 civilian deaths in less than a week, from March 16 to 21, 2021. On the other hand, local communities can't fully rely on the protection of national and foreign anti-terror forces whose reaction often comes too late, and who can be abusive, write Ornella Moderan, Habibou Souley Bako and Paul-Simon Handy for the Institute for Security Studies.
InFocus
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Local security sources say that over 100 civilians were killed in gun attacks in Niger's border area with Mali, in the three villages of Intazayene, Bakorat and Wistane on March ... Read more »
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A United Nations investigation has concluded that a French air attack in central Mali at the start of January 2021 killed at least 19 civilians, according to excerpts from Read more »
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France has rejected the findings of a U.N. investigation that concluded that a wedding celebration was hit by a French airstrike killed civilians and three armed members of the ... Read more »
Troops in the Sahel (file photo).