24 Mar 2019; DW: A pre-dawn attack on ethnic villages in central Mali left 134 victims dead and 55 injured, including pregnant women, children and the elderly. Violence has spread down from the north.
A deadly raid on the mainly-Muslim Peulh-Fulani villages of Ogossagou and Welingara in central Mali on Saturday shocked a population already targeted by attacks and reprisals.
Militants from an ethnic-Dogon group known as Dan Na Ambassagou have been blamed for scores of attacks over the past year, including Saturday's attack.
While some of the disputes between the ethnic groups involve land and water, the Dogon accuse the Peulh-Fulani of supporting jihadists, while the Peulh-Fulani accuse the Dogon of supporting the Malian army.
Army changes
The assaults came less than a week after an al Qaida affiliate in central Mali claimed responsibility for an attack on an army post which left 23 Malian soldiers dead.
On Sunday, Mali's President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita replaced 11 army commanders, including army chief of staff General M'Bemba Moussa Keita and chief of land forces General Abdrahamane Baby.
Prime Minister Soumeylou Boubeye Maiga said that the ethnic-Dogon Dan Nan Ambassagou group had been dissolved, and told to hand over their weapons. Maiga said: "The protection of the population will remain the monopoly of the state."
Last December, Human Rights Watch warned that "militia killings of civilians in central and northern Mali are spiraling out of control."
Click the link to read further: https://www.dw.com/en/mali-president-sacks-generals-after-deadly-raids-on-ethnic-villages/a-48046502
