U.N. Chief Launches Inquiry of Mali Protest Deaths
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has decided to open an official inquiry on the shooting death of three protesters during demonstrations in northern Mali, his spokesman said Thursday.
Witnesses said the three Malians were shot in Gao by U.N. troops during protests on Tuesday against a U.N. plan to assert control over an area north of the town.
Ban said he was saddened by the violence and that an inquiry would "determine the facts surrounding this tragic incident," spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters.
The U.N. mission MINUSMA initially denied it was behind the deaths but later said it would investigate to establish its role in the violence.
The protesters were angry about a U.N. plan, since withdrawn, to create a "temporary security zone" in the northern town of Tabankort, which they said would undermine loyalist armed groups fighting rebels in the area.
Mali's President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita scrapped plans to attend an African Union summit to visit Gao on Thursday.
Source: Agence France Presse
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