Credit: Wikipedia / At least 95 civilians were killed in an assault on Sobanou-Kou village in the Mopti region of central Mali Sunday June 9, 2019.

By Gary Raynaldo    DIPLOMATIC TIMES

UNITED NATIONS   –   Nearly 100 people were reportedly killed during an attack on a traditional Dogon hunters’ village in Mali on Sunday, the  UN reported. According to preliminary information, armed men led an attack that left some 95 people dead and many others wounded. Mali has experienced a deadly wave of violence this year from terror attacks and onslaught  between Dogon hunters and Fulani herders. In March, about 150 Malians, including women and children, were killed Saturday in the central Malian village of Ogossagou. The March attack was allegedly committed by members of the Dogon ethnic group.  Sunday’s attack is the latest incident in an increasingly violent conflict. The increase in ethnic violence is connected to the spread of militant Islamic conflict that began in northern Mali in 2012. Sunday’s massacre prompted a call from UN chief António Guterres for authorities to act fast and “bring the perpetrators to justice”.

“The Secretary-General is outraged by reports that at least 95 civilians, including women and children, have been killed and many injured following an attack yesterday on Sobanou-Kou village, Mopti region, in central Mali.”

-statement issued June  10, 2019  by the Spokesman for UN Secretary-General Guterres. 

“The Secretary-General appeals to all Malian stakeholders to show restraint and to refrain from retaliatory acts. He urges the Government and all actors to engage in intercommunal dialogue to resolve tensions and differences.”

UN Mission In West Africa Mali  Is The Deadliest In The World For Peacekeepers

Les contingents du Niger et du Bangladesh lors d’une opération militaire à Ansongo. Photo MINUSMA/Marco Dormino

The UN Stabilization Mission in Mali, (MINUSMA) said it was “extremely concerned” at the news of the attack, which has been corroborated by local authorities on the ground.  The cycle of deadly violence continues in west Africa nation Mali, just weeks after its Prime Minister resigned along with the entire government over a failure  to  stem the tide in ethnic and  jihadist killings. A violent attack against MINUSMA May 19  left one peacekeeper dead. A separate incident in Tessalit left three Chadian peacekeepers injured.  And on April 20,  a UN peacekeeper from Egypt was killed and four others injured in an improvised explosive device attack on a convoy in central Mali’s Mopti region.  Since 2013, when MINUSMA deployed,   nearly 200 peacekeepers have died in Mali, including close to  120 killed during hostilities.   The deadly violence has spiraled out of control this year, in particular, with no end in sight despite the presence of thousands of UN and international peacekeeping troops in Mali,  and across the Sahel region. 

The Special Representative in Mali, Mahamat Saleh Annadif, said he was “shocked and outraged” by the the latest attack in Mali on Sunday.  “I strongly condemn this act of unspeakable barbarity”, he stated.

 “The situation has passed the threshold of tolerable, and it is time for the nation to wake up”

-UN Special Representative  in Mali.

.