Senegalese CSOs plead for safety of Malian population in the face of crisis
Dakar, Senegal (PANA) - Senegalese civil society organizations have called on the Malian government and the international community to ensure the safety of the Malian populations and to find a political solution to the crisis that has been shaking the country since 2012.
"What worries us most is that we are trying to turn the crisis into an inter-ethnic conflict, stigmatizing communities by presenting the jihadists as Peul or Dogon," the CSOs warned in Dakar on Tuesday.
"The problem is not ethnic, it is political, we must find political solutions to the crisis," said the coordinator of the Senegalese Social Forum, Mamadou Miniane Diouf.
He invited the Malian population to be vigilant so as not to be dragged into violence that will lead to genocide.
"We must be careful not to enter the game of those who want to move the political and geostrategic Malian crisis on the ethnic field. The ethnic groups they try to oppose have lived together peacefully forever," said Diouf.
The UN's independent expert on human rights in Mali, Alioune Tine, described the seriousness of the situation on the ground, saying it has created an unprecedented humanitarian crisis.
"Women are disemboweled, children are killed, old men are poisoned, millet granaries are burned, it is abominable," he said during the press conference.
He pleaded for active solidarity of the African civil society for Mali, stressing the urgency of holding a summit of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the African Union (AU) to find a solution to the Malian crisis.
"We have to be very careful because the subregion has become extremely vulnerable, if the Malian bolt breaks, it will be a disaster for the sub-region," warns Tine, who is surprised at the lack of efficiency of the military forces against abuses committed against the civilian population.
Several days ago, several organizations of the Senegalese civil society created a Solidarity and Action Committee for Peace in Mali and in the sub-region (COPAM / SR), which wants to constitute a unitary framework of all the good intentions and wills that want to contribute to the search for lasting solutions to the crisis that is shaking the country.
The committee, which is currently working on an action plan, will collect donations and launch information awareness and solidarity campaign and take steps to meet the authorities of the states and all the national, sub-regional institutions, and international organizations concerned by the Malian crisis.
-0- PANA AAS/JSG/KND/VAO 16April2019
