ICC launches Mali war crimes probe
2013-01-17 08:30
The Hague - The International Criminal Court on Wednesday
opened a war crimes probe on Mali, where French troops are fighting Islamist rebels
who have been occupying half the country since April last year.
"Different armed groups have caused havoc and human
suffering through a range of alleged acts of extreme violence," the
Hague-based court's chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said in a statement.
"I have determined that some of these deeds of
brutality and destruction may constitute war crimes."
Bensouda in July last year ordered a preliminary probe into
reports of terrifying atrocities committed in Mali to see if the criteria for a
fuller investigation were met.
She said her office believed there were sufficient grounds
for "further action" and identified potential cases of atrocities in
the impoverished west African state, which has effectively been split in two by
the conflict.
Islamists last March took advantage of a short-lived coup in
Bamako and a rebellion by Tuareg separatists in the north to seize half the
country.
So far 144 500 refugees have fled the unrest to neighbouring
Mauritania, Niger, Burkina Faso and Algeria, UN humanitarian agencies said
Tuesday, while another 230 000 are internally displaced.
