amnesty international and Human Rights Watch confirm Extrajudicial Executions in Niger

On December 9, 2007, two important statements / reports have been published, concerning the situation in the North of Niger:

Statement by amnesty international

http://www.amnesty.org/fr/for-media/press-releases/niger-ex%C3%A9cutions-extrajudiciaires-et-d%C3%A9placements-de-populations-dans-le
(at this point available only in French)

amnesty international explicitly calls upon the Government of Niger to adhere to the Geneva Convention.

ai explicitly uses the term “extrajudicial executions” which are a violation of the Geneva Convention.

The ai-report mentions 13 cases of extrajudicial / arbitrary executions and thus basicly confirms the information put forward by MNJ and newsgroup.nordniger in regard to the Army of Niger taking revenge on civilians.

MNJ on their website (http://m-n-j.blogspot.com) claims the number of victims of extrajudicial executions to be far bigger.


Report by HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH

http://hrw.org/english/docs/2007/12/19/niger17623.htm
(english / anglais)
http://hrw.org/french/docs/2007/12/19/niger17647.htm
(francais / french / französisch)

The same day, Human Rights Watch published a more extense report about the situation.

The report contains a number of testimonies of eye witnesses confirming extrajudicial / arbitrary executions.

Moreover, Human Rights Watch reports rape of Tuareg women, shooting / slaughtering of cattle (a main source of existence for the Tuareg people), as well as arbitrary arrests / detention.
All these human rights violations have been committed by elements of the Army of Niger.

The MNJ is accused of theft committed against some non-Tuareg individuals.

However, MNJ is disputing these events and says that these incidents of theft / robbery have not been committed by members of the rebel group.

(For copyright-reasons, we only post the links to the reports / statements; please visit original sites for your further information.)