“Many youths had lost their parents in the first incident and now they’re dead, too.”Two village leaders told Human Rights Watch that they had called MINUSMA staff and a UN hotline in Mopti shortly after the Malian army left the village on the evening of February 13. In addition to killing several dozen civilians, the attackers also burned scores of houses and granaries and looted 700 animals, including cows, goats, sheep, and donkeys, and other valuables.“The Dogon had surrounded the village and fired at us as we ran and at people who’d scrambled up trees to hide,” said a villager. The presence of the soldiers had reassured the Peuhl population from Ogossagou and several other Peuhl villages whose inhabitants had flooded into Ogossagou for protection after their own villages had come under attack by Dogon militias in 2018 and 2019.“Last year, when the president came to Ogossagou to offer condolences for the 2019 massacre, he promised the FAMA would remain here to protect us,” a village elder said. Malian Presidency/Handout via Reuters . One assailant was apprehended but the rest fled.Ogossagou residents expressed outrage at the lack of protection and the lack of justice for the earlier massacre.

Three hours later, at about 8 a.m., Malian security forces and peacekeepers from the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) arrived and dispersed the attackers. FILE: Mali’s President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita inspects the damage after an attack by gunmen on Fulani herders in Ogossagou, Mali March 25, 2019. Why?’ The Senegalese commander said that they had not seen the flashlights and had asked a group of Dogon at the edge of town where Ogossagou was, but that the Dogon told them it was further down the road.” The witnesses believed that the Dogon men had deliberately misdirected the peacekeepers.On March 4, Human Rights Watch requested from the Malian government and MINUSMA a response to the events of February 13 and 14, 2020 in Ogossagou.A letter from the Ministry of Defense and Veterans Affairs, received on March 13, said that, “On the issue of the withdrawal of the FAMA, a tactical error led to a new massacre in Ogossagou,” noting further that, “Disciplinary measures were immediately taken, as a precautionary measure, pending the outcome of the investigations, which have been opened.”Another letter from the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights, also received on March 13, said that following the massacre, “Investigators from the Specialized Judicial Unit were immediately dispatched to the scene,” and a judicial inquiry was opened to investigate the involvement of “a combat group in connection with a terrorist undertaking, murder, assault and battery, arson, damage to property, and possession and carrying of weapons and munitions of war.” The letter noted that one suspect had been indicted while arrests of other suspects would be forthcoming.In late February, open sources reported that the government replaced General Keba Sangare, commander of ground forces of the army, and Colonel Amara Doumbia, the Mopti Region Zone commander, without providing details.On March 16, Human Rights Watch received an email from MINUSMA’s Director, Strategic Communication and Public Information, noting “The protection of civilians and the promotion of human rights is a paramount priority for MINUSMA. MINUSMA has initiated a fact-finding investigation into the events of Ogossagou of 14 February where civilians were killed. Beijing ICP prepared NO.16065310-3 Write CSS OR LESS and hit save. A year on from Mali’s most deadly massacre, The Telegraph looks back at the tragic events of Ogossagou By Will Brown in Mopti, central Mali and Simon Townsley Photographer 3 March 2020 • … “I was with the village chief when he called several people in Mopti and Bamako to tell them the soldiers were abandoning the village and that we were terrified of being attacked.”Villagers said the soldiers were well aware of ongoing deadly incidents. As we fled, they set the house on fire, and looted everything, including our sheep, which they untied and took away with them.On the basis of interviews with family members of victims, witnesses, and those who buried the dead, Human Rights Watch estimates that 36 residents, including 4 children, were killed in the Ogossagou massacre, while 19 others, including 3 children, remain missing.“The majority of the dead were men,” a village elder said.