Malian authorities dominated by the military announced on Sunday that they would ban the movement of civilians in the border area with Mauritania, where a number of Mauritanians disappeared in early March. They also announced the opening of an investigation by the Bamako military court.
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These disappearances, two months after the death of seven Mauritanians on Malian territory in early January, caused tension in Mauritania at a time when the Malian junta, under international pressure, was trying to strengthen ties with its neighbor. Mauritania has openly accused the Malian army of “recurring criminal acts” against its nationals.
Mali sent a mission to Mauritania on Friday and Saturday to try to appease Nouakchott.
The two countries have agreed to create a joint mission to clarify the disappearances, said a joint statement released on Saturday.
Mali will share “as soon as possible” the fruits of the investigation it had promised after the January deaths and whose results are still awaited, to the great frustration of Mauritania. The two countries have agreed to set up joint patrols in the border area.
The spokesman for the Malian government, Colonel Abdoulaye Maïga, announced in a statement on Sunday that “the military authorities (had) decided to strictly prohibit any movement of civilians in the areas of the Wagadou forest and the Gringalé”, in the sector where the Mauritanians disappeared.
This area is the scene of military activities as part of Operation Maliko launched in December against the jihadists, the statement said.
The latter insists that the Malian army has nothing to do with the disappearances, as Bamako has maintained from the start.
“Based on technological material evidence, it turns out that no FAMas (Malian Armed Forces) patrol was present in the area and on the dates indicated and so far no material evidence makes it possible to incriminate our valiant FAMas,” he says.
For his part, the prosecutor at the Bamako military court announced in a press release the opening of investigations by the gendarmes. The press release does not make it clear whether these investigations concern only the events of March, or also those of January, on which the authorities had promised to investigate.
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Mali has been caught in the security turmoil since 2012. In addition to the actions of armed groups affiliated with Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State organization, inter-community violence and villainous acts, the army is regularly accused of abuses.