Niger mass graves: Army accused of executing over 70 civilians

Niger’s nationwide human rights charge has accused the navy of executing dozens of civilians all through counterinsurgency operations.

It talked about it had discovered larger than 70 our our bodies in six mass graves in Tillaberi inside the north-west of the nation, an area affected by jihadist violence.

The killings allegedly occurred earlier this 12 months.

One in every of many investigators talked about the civilians had been killed with bladed weapons and small arms.

Worldwide rights groups have accused the armies of Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso of ending up dozens of extrajudicial executions all through campaigns in opposition to jihadists and totally different armed groups inside the Sahel space.

Niger’s Nationwide Price on Human Rights was investigating allegations that 102 civilians had gone missing inside the troubled space between 27 March and a pair of April after a navy operation.

“There have actually been executions of unarmed civilians and the mission discovered on the very least 71 our our bodies in six mass graves,” talked about Abdoulaye Seydou, the president of the Pan-African Neighborhood for Peace, Democracy and Development, which took half inside the investigation.

“It is elements of the Defence and Security Forces (FDS) which are liable for these summary and extrajudicial executions,” he added.

Nonetheless Mr Seydou talked about it was not doable to say whether or not or not excessive ranges of the navy have been accountable.

There was no response to the declare from the Niger authorities.