International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor Fatou Bensouda condemned the attack. She said it could fall under her jurisdiction and that her office "will take all necessary steps to ensure the investigation and prosecution of those who participated in or otherwise contributed to what appears to be egregious crimes".<doc-sep>(CNN) — The massacre left the village in smoldering ruins. In shaky cell phone video seen by CNN, a witness stepped gingerly over ruined homes and around still-burning vehicles in Ogossagou, central Mali. Towards the end of the clip, a small body laid lifeless in the dirt. All told, 134 people were killed in Saturday’s brutal assault targeting the Fulani ethnic minority, which has been accused of having ties to jihadist organizations in the area. Many of the victims, according to the United Nations, were women and children. The UN said armed men, reportedly dressed as hunters, came before dawn and attacked the villagers with guns and machetes. The French ambassador to the United Nations called it an “unspeakable act.” The scale of the attack is horrifying, but the escalation of violence in central Mali shouldn’t be a surprise. Ethnic tensions and jihad insurgency A jihadist insurgency spread into the north and center of Mali in 2012, and foreign troops and the government have been unable to fully regain control over large regions of the landlocked West African country. Human Rights Watch (HRW) says that groups affiliated with al Qaeda and ISIS have moved deeper into central Mali, exploiting existing ethnic divisions and sowing chaos. Due to the lack of government security, so-called self-defense units of Dogon or Bambara ethnic groups – such as the Dogon Dan Na Ambassagou, whose name means “Hunters who trust in God” – have sprung up. MINUSMA/Harandane Dicko Troops from the UN peacekeeping mission in Mali Saturday’s massacre is the latest, and most serious, in a series of attacks possibly linked to self-defense groups. In December, HRW released a report that collated more than 200 civilian deaths in 2018 in Mali’s Mopti region and warned that communal violence was rapidly increasing there. Much of the violence is between the so-called self-defense units – from communities who traditionally depend on agriculture – and the Fulani herding population. The Fulani are a key pool of recruitment for the jihadi groups, according to the UN and HRW. Last year HRW accused Dan Na Ambassagou of targeting members of the Fulani group in attacks that “led to dozens of civilian deaths and injuries.” Dan Na Ambassagou was disbanded on Sunday by Malian President Ibrahim Boubacar and the Council of Ministers, according to a government communique, which did not note whether this group was to blame for the attack in Ogossagou. The council made the accusation that Dan Na Ambassagou had “departed from its initial objectives, despite repeated warnings from local administrative authorities.” Corinne Dufka, HRW’s West Africa Associate Director, told CNN that the violence in Mali was underscored by “ongoing tension over land and water between herders and cultivators but also by the growing presence of armed Islamist groups who … have committed very serious atrocities and targeted members of the Dogon group.” Dufka said that Dan Na Ambassagou “has been attacked by armed Islamists and then they engage in lethal reprisals, including the one that occurred yesterday.” Saturday’s attack is the latest escalation of a cycle of violence that has spiraled out of control. Peace-keeping efforts Last week, several Malian soldiers were killed in a coordinated attack in Dioura village. Earlier this month the UN says a booby-trapped corpse killed 10 mourners at a Dogon funeral. A delegation from the UN Security Council was in the country meeting with leaders when Saturday’s massacre happened – trying to implement a 2015 peace accord. The UN peacekeeping mission in Mali, known as MINUSMA, is its most dangerous operation globally; 191 troops from the mission have been killed since it was formed in 2013. Their bases are routinely attacked, their soldiers frequently hit by IEDs. But insecurity is by no means isolated to Mali. Large swaths of the Sahel region are destabilized by inter-community conflict and terror groups. The United States has significant boots on the ground in the region, primarily in Niger, where the US operates a significant drone base in Agadez. The ground presence, particularly of Special Operations Forces, came to the attention of the public when four US servicemen were killed in a deadly ambush in Niger in late 2017. There are around 1,200 troops under Special Operations Command Africa in around a dozen countries – usually in an advisory role to African militaries combating terrorist groups. But the Pentagon announced late last year that it planned on drawing down its troop presence on the continent. That reduction and the ongoing violence in the Sahel has led many experts to speculate that the threat to civilians and to the wider world will get worse, not better.<doc-sep>Gunmen killed at least 110 Fulani herders in central Mali on Saturday, a local mayor said, in one of the deadliest such attacks in a region reeling from worsening ethnic and jihadist violence. The assaults on the villages of Ogossagou and Welingara took place as a United Nations Security Council mission visited Mali to try to find solutions to violence that killed hundreds of civilians last year and is spreading across West Africa’s Sahel region. Moulaye Guindo, mayor of the nearby town of Bankass, said armed men dressed as traditional Donzo hunters, encircled and attacked Ogossagou, killing about 60 people. “The body count continues,” Guindo told Reuters by telephone from Ogossagou. He said another nearby Fulani village, Welingara, had also been attacked, causing “a number” of deaths but that he did not yet know how many.<doc-sep>
At least 134 Fulani herders were massacred in central Mali on Saturday, a local mayor said, in the deadliest single recent attack in a region seeing a resurgence of ethnic and jihadist violence. Advertising Read more The death toll from a massacre in a central Malian village rose to 134 dead, the U.N. said, as new video emerged Sunday showing victims strewn on the ground amid the burning remains of their homes. An ethnic Dogon militia already blamed for scores of attacks in central Mali over the past year attacked an ethnic Peuhl village just before dawn on Saturday. Among the victims in Ogossogou were pregnant women, small children and the elderly, according to a Peuhl group known as Tabital Pulaaku. Graphic video obtained by The Associated Press shows the aftermath of Saturday's attack, with many victims burned inside their homes. A small child's body is covered with a piece of fabric, and at one point an ID card is shown covered with blood. In the capital of Bamako, visiting U.N. Security Council President Francois Delattre, condemned the killings as an "unspeakable attack" late Saturday. At least 55 people were wounded and the U.N. mission in Mali said it was "working to ensure the wounded were evacuated." In New York, the U.N. secretary-general condemned the attack and called on the Malian authorities to swiftly investigate it and bring the perpetrators to justice. Islamic extremists were ousted from urban centers in northern Mali during a 2013 French-led military operation. The jihadists scattered throughout the rural areas, regrouped and began launching numerous attacks against the Malian military and the U.N. mission. Since 2015, extremism has edged all the way to central Mali where it has exacerbated tensions between the Dogon and Peuhl groups. Members of the Dogon group accuse the Peulhs of supporting these jihadists linked to violent groups in the country's north and beyond. Peulhs have in turn accused the Dogon of supporting the Malian army in its effort to stamp out extremism. In December, Human Rights Watch had warned that "militia killings of civilians in central and northern Mali are spiraling out of control." The group said the ethnic Dogon militia known as Dan Na Ambassagou and its leader had been linked to many of the atrocities and called for Malian authorities to prosecute the perpetrators. Mali's Dogon country with its dramatic cliff landscapes and world renowned traditional art once drew tourists from Europe and beyond who hiked through the region's villages with local guides. The region, though, has been destabilized in recent years along with much of central Mali. (AP) Daily newsletterReceive essential international news every morning Subscribe