French Media Trying to Cover Up Military Crimes in Mali, Human Rights Activist Says
13:57 GMT 05.05.2022 (Updated: 16:24 GMT 08.12.2022)
© AP Photo / Jerome Delay
Subscribe
ST. PETERSBURG (Sputnik) - The information campaign launched by several French media outlets in connection with the situation in Mali is based on gross falsification and is designed to hide the crimes of the French military, Mira Terada, head of the Russian non-profit organisation Foundation to Battle Injustice, said on Thursday.
In May, Russia's deputy envoy to the United Nations Dmitry Polyanskiy said that Russia initiated a discussion in the United Nations Security Council regarding the situation in the Malian city of Gossi with the aim of raising the issue of the disinformation campaign unleashed by France with accusations against Mali and Russia. In April, Malian troops reportedly found bodies buried near the former French base in Gossi.
"According to the unanimous opinion of the experts of the Foundation to Battle Injustice, the French media are trying to hide the obvious inhuman crimes of the French military with the help of gross and unsubstantiated informational falsification," Terada told reporters at an event in the Russian city of St. Petersburg.
Terada noted that Mali and Russia should conduct an independent investigation. The Russian experts should promptly conduct this investigation, and reveal the evidence when a truly objective and independent institution is created, which will continue to deal with issues of regulating international relations, she added.
French President Emmanuel Macron (C) has a lunch break with French troops during his visit to France's Barkhane counter-terrorism operation in Africa's Sahel region in Gao, northern Mali, on May 19, 2017.
© AFP 2023 / CHRISTOPHE PETIT TESSON / POOL
The French-led military task force Takuba was founded in 2014 by a number of European countries to advise and assist the Malian military in their fight against terrorism in Sahel. On February 17, 2022, France and its allies in Takuba, along with a small number of Canadian soldiers, began a joint troop pullout from Mali due to disagreements with the African nation's transitional government, which came to power as a result of a military takeover.
According to French President Emmanuel Macron, the withdrawal of troops from the country will take from four to six months. The Malian government, in turn, urged Paris to withdraw the troops involved in counterterrorism operations "without delay".
On Monday, the Malian transitional authorities announced their decision to break off defence cooperation with France.
