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Mali wedding airstrike

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Mali wedding massacre
Part of Mali War
Bounti is located in Mali
Bounti
Bounti
Location of Bounti
LocationBounti, Mopti Region, Mali
Date3 January 2021
TargetAQIM fighters
Attack type
Deaths22 (UN)
InjuredUnknown
Victimscivilians
PerpetratorsFrance French Air and Space Force

On 3 January 2021, the French Armed Forces carried out a massacre targeting a wedding claiming that terrorists were killed without any collateral damage. A UN report later revealed that out of the 22 people killed, 19 were civilians.[1]

Background

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On 2 January 2021, in coordination with the militaries of Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger the French military launched Operation Éclipse in and around the city of Boni.[2]

Airstrike

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On 3 January 2021, Islamic extremists confronted a wedding in the village of Bounti in Mopti Region, central Mali, ordering the attendees to separate by gender. An airstrike, carried out by a French Mirage 2000 aircraft and MQ-9 Reaper drone, then killed 22 people, including children, according to witnesses and local officials including the mayor.[3][4][5][6]

According to the French and Malian authorities, the bombing had targeted a group of about forty jihadists. However, the local Fula organisation Tabital Pulaaku [fr] provided another version: 19 men had been killed, all of whom were civilians attending a wedding. The majority of them were elderly.[7] The injured were taken into charge by Medicins Sans Frontieres, who confirmed that most of them were elderly civilians.[8][9]

Residents also said a helicopter opened fire on the ceremony.[10] The French Armed Forces said they had killed "dozens" of militant Islamists in Hombori, a few kilometers away, on that day, but that a connection between the strike and a wedding party "does not correspond to information collected prior to the airstrike".[3][4][5]

On 30 March 2021, the MINUSMA United Nations peacekeeping mission in Mali concluded that the strike killed 19 unarmed civilians and three armed men.[11] They said the strike was on a wedding attended by about 100 civilians and five armed men, presumably members of a group affiliated with al-Qaeda.[11][12]

The French authorities maintained their version of events; the head of the French armed forces called the UN report "biased".[12][13][14][15]

References

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  1. ^ Maclean, Ruth (30 March 2021). "A Wedding, an Airstrike, and Outrage at the French Military". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 17 December 2021.
  2. ^ "Mali: with French soldiers from Operation Eclipse chasing jihadists linked to Al-Qaeda". Le Monde. 4 February 2021. Retrieved 5 October 2021.
  3. ^ a b "Witnesses say 20 are killed in an airstrike in central Mali during a wedding party". CTV News. 5 January 2021. Retrieved 16 February 2021.
  4. ^ a b "Wedding guests killed in Mali airstrike, local sources say". The Guardian. 5 January 2021. Retrieved 30 March 2021.
  5. ^ a b "Unexplained deadly airstrike at Mali wedding raises questions over French involvement". The Telegraph. 6 January 2021.
  6. ^ Freudenthal, Emmanuel; Gebauer, Matthias; Huon, Patricia; Nsaibia, Héni; Popp, Maximilian P; Sandberg, Britta; van der Weide, Youri (9 June 2021). ""People Collected Severed Arms, Legs and Heads"". Spiegel. Retrieved 9 June 2021.
  7. ^ Macé, Célian (8 January 2021). "Mali : à Bounti, 3 bombes, 19 morts et 2 versions". Libération. Retrieved 4 January 2025.
  8. ^ Bensimon, Cyril (12 January 2021). "Mali : les blessés de Bounti soignés par MSF « étaient tous des hommes, âgés pour la plupart »". Le Monde. Retrieved 4 January 2025.
  9. ^ "Mali : une enquête de l'ONU conclut que l'armée française a tué 19 civils en janvier, Paris réfute toute bavure". Franceinfo (in French). 30 March 2021. Retrieved 4 January 2025.
  10. ^ "Sahel conflict: France rejects reports of airstrike on Mali wedding". BBC. 5 January 2021. Retrieved 9 June 2021.
  11. ^ a b "French air attack in Mali killed 19 unarmed civilians, UN says". Al Jazeera. 30 March 2021. Retrieved 30 March 2021.
  12. ^ a b "French Strike in Mali Killed 19 Civilians in January: UN". The Defense Post. 31 March 2021. Retrieved 4 January 2025.
  13. ^ "French army chief says UN report into air strike was biased". BBC. 22 May 2021. Retrieved 4 January 2025.
  14. ^ Thomas-Johnson, Amandla. "'Stop lying': Malians call for justice over French air strike". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 16 June 2021.
  15. ^ "Mali/France: Investigate French Airstrike Killing 19". Human Rights Watch. 21 January 2021. Retrieved 16 June 2021.
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