Attack in Mali: at least 95 people are killed in the village of the Dogon ethnic group | New

At least 95 people were killed in the attack on a village in the Dogon ethnic group in central Mali during the latest deadly violence in the region.

Nineteen others were missing after unknown gunmen attacked the village of Sobane-Kou in the Mopti region in the early hours of Monday, the government said in a statement.

No immediate claims of responsibility were made, but the mbadacre carried the mark of deadly ethnic attacks that claimed the lives of hundreds of people.

This occurred less than three months after nearly 160 members of the Fulani ethnic group were killed by a group identified as Dogon.

"This country can not be led by a cycle of revenge and revenge," President of Mali Ibrahim Boubacar Keita told the Swiss public television ORTM, where he interrupted his official visit.

He called on Malians to unite to "allow our country to survive because it is a matter of survival".

& # 39; Annihilated & # 39;

The attackers also killed animals and burned houses, the government said in a statement, adding that an investigation was underway.

A source of Malian security at the mbadacre site said: "A Dogon village has been virtually eliminated."

A survivor who calls Amadou Togo told the AFP press agency "About 50 heavily armed men arrived on motorbikes and pickups".

"They first surrounded the village and then attacked, and anyone who tried to escape was killed," Togo said.

"Some people have had their throats slit or have been disemboweled, grain shops and livestock have been burned.Nobody has been spared – women, children, elderly."

Tensions have risen since a Dogon ethnic militia was accused of perpetrating the mbadacre in a village of the Fulani ethnic group in March.

Moulaye Guindo, the mayor of nearby Bankbad, told the Reuters news agency that the Fulanis had attacked the village after dark.

A local official told AFP: "At present, 95 civilians have died, the bodies are burned, we continue to search for others."

The village had about 300 inhabitants, according to a manager who reportedly spoke to AFP on condition of anonymity.

Nicolas Haque, from Al Jazeera, said that Malian troops were deployed in the village "to try to secure the area and make sure there were no more people." Attacks in neighboring villages ".

Malcolm Webb of Al Jazeera, Nairobi, said the situation was dramatic when local authorities visited the site of the attack.

"When the officials arrived in the village, they made a call from the survivors, the village has about 300 inhabitants and, once the role was played, they only had a few dozen people who came forward. "

"One survivor told us that the murder was completely ruthless: women, children and the elderly … some had their throats cut, others were gutted," added Webb.

Worsening of violence

The violence between the Dogon and the Fulani has exacerbated the already difficult security situation in the semi-arid and desert regions of Mali, which serve as a base for armed groups linked to al Qaeda and the Islamic State of Mali. Iraq and the Levant (EIIL or ISIS). ) group.

The Fulani are mainly pastoralists and traders, while the Dogon are traditionally sedentary farmers.

"Jihadist terrorist problems are intertwined with long-standing inter-communal tensions over access to land, water and pasture," Paul Melly, a consultant to Chatham's Africa Program, told Al Jazeera House.

"This has created tensions between the Dogon and Bambara farming communities, on the one hand, and the Peul herders (Fulani), on the other, the problems are not easy to solve. Climate change threatens the environment, jihadist preaching has injected an ideological advantage, and there are now many murders, fueling mistrust and bitterness. "

On May 16, the United Nations Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) announced that it had recorded "at least 488 deaths" during attacks against Fulanis in the central regions of Mopti and Ségou since January 2018. .

During the bloodiest raid, about 160 Peul villagers were mbadacred in October in Ogossagou, near the border with Burkina Faso, by suspected Dogon hunters.

MINUSMA said that since January 2018 also, armed Fulanis had "caused 63 deaths" among civilians in the Mopti region.

Speaking on the rise in tension, particularly in recent months, Al Jazeera's Webb said that the violence had their roots six years ago, when al-Qaeda-linked groups had invaded land in northern Mali.

"The French army has been deployed to repel them.Since then, a UN peacekeeping force has been formed, but the whole of northern Mali has remained unstable ever since.

"This has been exacerbated by climate change.This is a semi-arid region, so that pastoralists or hunters, like the Dogons, often find themselves in conflict with other groups for scarce resources and pastures.

"Many people blame these armed groups linked to the Islamic State and Al Qaeda for fermenting ethnic tensions between groups in this region and between the Dogon … and Fulani ethnic groups that have suffered a mbadacre a few months ago.

MINUSMA leader Mahamat Saleh Annadif described the latest bloodshed as "shock, tragedy," noting that it comes at a time "when we are discussing the renewal of the mandate (of MINUSMA)".

& # 39; Stop & punish & # 39;

Some 14,700 soldiers and police are currently deployed in Mali, making it the most dangerous mission of the United Nations; 125 peacekeepers have been killed in attacks since the deployment in 2013.

The donor countries of MINUSMA are scheduled to meet at the UN on Wednesday. A decision on the renewal of the force's mandate is expected by 27 June.

Speaking at the United Nations headquarters in New York, Annadif lamented that the Malian authorities have not been sufficiently present in the region to prevent such violence.

The UN mission provided air support earlier Monday to the "Malian government's efforts to prevent further attacks," UN spokesman Eri Kaneko told reporters in New York. York.

Antonio Guterres, the Head of the UN, Outraged by the attack, he called on all parties in Mali to "show restraint and refrain from retaliation," said UN spokesman Stéphane Dujarric in a statement. a statement.

In Monday's statement, the Malian government expressed its condolences and said: "All measures will be taken to stop and punish those responsible for this bloodbath".

"Reinforcements are currently being deployed in the area and are conducting a large-scale search," the statement said.