Ethnic violence kills 17 in Mali ahead of election

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About 17 people were killed this week in the latest inter-ethnic attack to hit central Mali and as the country prepares for presidential elections this weekend, sources said Friday.

Armed men described as traditional hunters attacked the village of Somena on Wednesday, marking the latest flare-up between nomadic Fulani and farmers from the Bambara and Dogon communities.

Abdoul Aziz Diallo, president of Tabital Pulaaku, the main Fulani association in Mali, said 17 people had died.

"We recovered all the bodies of the Fulani civilians who were killed and thrown into a well by Dogon hunters," he said.

Supporters of Mali's President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita attend a rally in Bamako, Mali, July 27, 2018. /VCG Photo

The death toll of 17, inflicted by "armed men," was confirmed independently by a Malian government official who gave no further details.

On July 17, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCR) said at least 289 civilians had died in "inter-communal violence" since the start of the year. Nearly 77 percent of violent incidents occurred in the central region of Mopti, the UNHCR said.

Malian voters go to the polls on Sunday to elect a new president. The incumbent, Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, who was elected in 2013, has been accused by rivals of incompetence.

In addition to ethnic clashes, militant violence has spread from northern Mali to the center and south and spilled into neighboring Burkina Faso and Niger, often inflaming communal conflicts.

(Top picture: A Malian security forces member stands guard in Bamako, Mali July 27, 2018. /VCG Photo)

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Source(s): AFP