AFRICA : MALI : BOMB ATTACKS CONTIUE AS MANY FLEE

CISA REPORT:
CISA REPORT: BAMAKO, February 24, 2012 (CISA) -The Malian government must end bomb attacks against the civilian population in the north of the country, Amnesty International said on February 23 after a four year old girl was killed amid shelling.
Fata Walette Ahmedou was injured after an army helicopter shelled the Kel Essouck camp near the northern town of Kidal, some 1,600 km north-east of the capital Bamako. She died of her injuries on Thursday February 23 in the morning.
At least 12 other people were wounded in the attack, says Amnesty International.
“It’s the civilian population who is bearing the brunt of this indiscriminate bombing. In addition to human casualties, the attacks have killed dozens of cattle, camels and goats which the Nomad Tuareg population rely on,” said GaĆ«tan Mootoo, Amnesty International’s researcher on West Africa.
“These bombings violate international humanitarian law and the government must stop them immediately,” she added.
The Kidal area has been bombed by Malian army helicopters since February 11.
The Azawad National Liberation Movement (Mouvement national de liberation de l’Azawad, (MNLA), a Tuareg armed opposition group, launched a military uprising in the north of the country last month.
Since then dozens of people have been killed and thousands displaced by fighting between the MNLA and Mali’s military.
Thousands of people have fled across the border into neighbouring Niger, Burkina Faso and Mauritania.

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