Mali launches probe into mass grave near former French base

KIGALI, Rwanda

Mali’s public prosecutor announced the launch of an investigation Tuesday into a mass grave discovered near a camp formerly occupied by French forces in Gossi in the north of the West

African country.​​​​​​​

The Malian army claimed to have discovered the mass grave last Friday.

“The public prosecutor in Bamako informs the public that on the instruction of the defense and veterans minister, it launched an investigation following the discovery of a mass grave in

Gossi, Gourma-Rharous Cercle, in the Tombouctou Region,” said a statement by public prosecutor Soumaila Bagayoko.

The prosecutor together with a forensic doctor and a team of investigators visited Gossi on Saturday with the aim of shedding light on the mass grave, according to the statement.

The initial investigation will form a preliminary report and the public will be kept informed of the progress, and its final result will be made public, it added.

The Malian army announced the discovery of the mass grave hours after the French military accused Russian mercenaries of the Wagner Group in Mali of “manipulating information.”

The French army claimed that it had “filmed Russian mercenaries burying bodies near the Gossi base with the intention of implicating the French as having left a mass grave behind.”

The French military operation ended in February after France's ties with its former colony deteriorated.

It had sent troops to the West African country in 2013, hoping to defeat insurgents in northern Mali and the Sahel.

Mali accuses France of espionage

Mali meanwhile has accused the French army of “spying and provocation of its troops” after it used a drone to film a video ostensibly showing soldiers burying bodies near its former military base.

In a statement late Tuesday, the government accused France of violating its airspace and said it has “evidence of more than 50 cases of violations of its airspace.”

“In addition to spying, French forces are guilty of subversion by publishing false images worked up to accuse Malian forces of being responsible for killing civilians,” said the statement, which

was signed by the Minister of Territorial Administration and Decentralization, Lieutenant-Colonel Abdoulaye Maiga.

Mali once again asked the French army to leave its territory.