Human rights groups and journalists have voiced concern over the information blackout on the number of civilian casualties during the French war in Mali, Press TV reports.

While France’s Ministry of Defense has told Press TV that there have been no civilian casualties thanks to the precision of their airstrikes, human rights groups and journalists say they have not been permitted access to Malian war zones or given information on civilian and military casualties.

The mayor of the Malian town of Konna recently declared that 11 civilians, including women and children, were killed as a result of French airstrikes.


There is no information if there have been similar deaths in other areas of conflict, because Mali's government has not issued any figure about the war’s human casualties since the war started.

Marie-pierre Allie from Doctors Without Borders says a number of wounded civilians have been hospitalized so far, but the number of injured could be more than what has been observed.

Meanwhile, people in the northern part of Mali are concerned over the imminent threats against the lives, she pointed out.

Malian troopers have been accused of summarily executing dozens of people, some only because of their ethnicity or for lacking identity papers.

The Malian civil war has already resulted in nearly 400,000 refugees, and the number is expected to grow as the French war has exacerbated the crisis.

Reports say that African heads of state have suggested that civilian observers monitor the human rights situation in areas under the control of the Malian junta.

While human rights groups accuse Malian and French troops of committing serious rights abuses, France has been accused of eying the West African country’s rich natural resources.

On January 11, France launched its war on Mali under the pretext of halting the advance of the fighters who control the northern part of the African country. Nearly 2,300 French troops have so far been deployed to the country.