Page 11 - ARUBA TODAY

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WORLD NEWS Tuesday 11 June 2019

Associated Press Assailants raid village in Mali, killing at least 95 people

By BABA AHMED The Peuhl are accused of and whether it should focus
Associated Press working alongside jihadists on the protection of civil-
BAMAKO, Mali (AP) — As- from the Islamic State of ians, the rights group add-
sailants raided a central Greater Sahara organiza- ed. Rural bands of hunters
Mali village early Monday, tion to attack Dogon vil- have “become paramili-
killing at least 95 people lages and prevent people tary groups,” arguing that
in the latest massacre in from cultivating their land. they need to defend their
a growing ethnic conflict In turn, the Peuhl have al- communities if Malian se-
that has been enflamed by leged that the Dogons are curity forces cannot, Jean-
Islamic extremists, govern- collaborating with Mali’s Herve Jezequel with the
ment officials said. military, though there is no International Crisis Group
Nineteen people were miss- conclusive sign of state wrote after the March mas-
ing after the ethnic Dogon support. The groups have sacre.
village of Sobame Da was not been evenly matched. The tensions arose several
attacked around 3 a.m., Human Rights Watch says years ago over issues such
said Interior Security Ministry the Dan Na Ambassagou as land use, he added.
spokesman Amadou Sang- militia has been behind vio- “The availability of weap-
ho. Homes were burned lence that resulted in much ons of war and the pretext
and animals slaughtered, In this 10 April, 2019 file photo, a map of Central Mali is higher death tolls, in part of fighting jihadist groups
the government said. shown. because the group has have opened the flood-
There was no immedi- Associated Press more sophisticated weap- gates to a level of ethnic-
ate claim of responsibility, ic extremism in its far north, to extinguish the militia. The ons. The latest massacre is based violence that is
though tensions have been with a French-led military massacre in March in Ogos- a reminder that the conflict without precedent in the
high since a Dogon militia intervention dispersing ji- sagou led some once-de- has no easily defined good region,” he said.
was accused of carrying hadists from the region’s mobilized fighters to take or bad sides, the head of The victims have included
out a massacre in an eth- major towns. The extrem- up arms again. the United Nations peace- women and young chil-
nic Peuhl village in March ists have infiltrated com- On Monday a prominent keeping mission, Mahamat dren, and observers say
that left at least 157 dead. munities much further south group representing the Saleh Annadif, said in a hundreds of civilians were
It was the conflict’s deadli- in recent years, stoking Peuhl community, Tabital statement. “Everyone is re- killed last year alone.
est attack yet. animosity between ethnic Pulaaku, issued a state- sponsible,” he said. In a report late last month,
The killings highlight the Ma- groups in the region with a ment blaming the “cycle of The violence in central Mali the U.N. secretary-general
lian security forces’ inability much larger population. violence” on the absence is characterized by killings, said Mali’s government
to contain the spreading Some Peuhl leaders had of state authority and im- disappearances and the must address the arm-
violence, which has been vowed to carry out reprisals punity for perpetrators of burning of villages “on an ing of ethnic self-defense
blamed on extremist fight- for the March bloodshed . attacks. appalling scale,” Amnesty groups and the prolifera-
ers linked to the Islamic A Dogon militia known as “The insecurity and the International said Monday. tion of arms in central Mali
State organization and Dan Na Ambassagou was large-scale massacres ex- The U.N. Security Council or “there is a high risk of fur-
al-Qaida and the grow- blamed for the attack. Mi- ploited by terrorist groups plans to meet this month on ther escalation.”
ing danger of frightened litia leader Youssouf Toloba are the seeds of a total and Mali to discuss the renewal The unrest in central Mali
communities arming them- has denied his fighters were lasting destabilization of of what has become the has displaced some 60,000
selves. involved. the region,” the statement world’s deadliest active people, Secretary-General
Mali has long battled Islam- Mali’s president has vowed said. U.N. peacekeeping mission Antonio Guterres wrote.q

Indian court jails 3 for life in rape case in Kashmir

By AIJAZ HUSSAIN and there is great distrust of hammed Akhtar, told The
Associated Press the government. Associated Press by phone
SRINAGAR, India (AP) — Singh said prosecutors plan that the men should be
A court on Monday sen- to appeal to a higher court “punished speedily, not just
tenced three Hindu men, and seek the death penal- convicted.”
including a police officer, ty for the three defendants “Our family has gone
to life imprisonment for kid- who received life sentenc- through hell,” he said. “Our
napping, raping and mur- es. Thousands of members hearts are bleeding. These
dering an 8-year-old Mus- of a radical Hindu group beasts should be hanged.”
lim girl in Indian-controlled had demanded the re- India has been shaken by
Kashmir, in a case that has lease of the defendants, in- a series of sexual assaults in
exacerbated tensions in sisting they were innocent. recent years, including the
the disputed region. The trial was shifted to gang rape and murder of a
Judge Tejwinder Singh sen- Pathankot, a town in neigh- student on a New Delhi bus
tenced three other police- boring Punjab state, follow- in 2012. That attack gal-
men to five years in prison In this April 14, 2018 file photo, Kashmiri activists hold torches ing accusations that local vanized a country where
for destroying evidence, and march in a protest against the rape and murder of an Hindu leaders and politi- widespread violence
prosecutor Santokh Singh 8-year-old girl, in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir. cians were trying to block against women had long
told reporters. The judge Associated Press the investigation. been quietly accepted.
acquitted another defen- ber of a nomadic tribe, was week later. The prosecution said the While the government has
dant due to insufficient evi- grazing her family’s ponies The case sparked protests girl was raped in a small vil- passed a series of laws in-
dence. An eighth suspect, in the forests of the Hima- across Kashmir, a Muslim- lage temple in Kathua dis- creasing punishment for
a minor, will be tried sepa- layan foothills when she majority region where reb- trict after having been kept rape, it’s rare for more than
rately by a juvenile court, was kidnapped in January els have been fighting for sedated for four days, and a few weeks to pass with-
Santokh Singh said. 2018. Her mutilated body years for independence was then bludgeoned to out another brutal sexual
The girl, who was a mem- was found in the woods a or unification with Pakistan death. The girl’s father, Mo- assault being reported.q