UNHCR: 700.000 people displaced due to violence in Mali

The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) announced today that due to the violence in Mali, it is expected that about 700.000 people will be driven from their homes in the coming months, of which 400.000 could flee to neighboring countries.

Members of the UNHCR also transmit information about "executions and amputations" and about large sums of money offered to civilians to fight against the Malian army, agency spokeswoman Melissa Fleming said in Geneva.

There are also reports of Islamist groups linked to Al Qaeda using children as soldiers, as well as many missing people. UNHCR members heard these stories from some of the 265 refugees who crossed from the northern part of Mali to Burkina Faso during the past few days.

The refugees said, according to Melissa Fleming, that they fled the recent military intervention because of insufficient means of subsistence and fear of the strict application of Sharia law.

Since the intervention of French forces and the intensification of the conflict, the number of cases of alleged abuse has also increased.

"We heard horrible stories from refugees in neighboring countries. They reported that they witnessed executions and amputations and mentioned that civilians are being offered a lot of money to fight against the army and its supporters," said Fleming.

"We believe that in the near future, another 300.000 people could be displaced in Mali, and another 400.000 refugees could arrive in neighboring countries," UNHCR spokeswoman Melissa Fleming said at a press conference in Geneva, Reuters reported.

Some 147.000 Malian nationals have already fled to Mauritania, Niger, Burkina Faso and Algeria since the crisis in their country began last year, including 2.744 people who have fled since French military airstrikes began a week ago.

In mid-March 2012, a group of soldiers started armed riots in the capital, Bamako, which Tuareg and Islamist groups used to seize the northern part of the country. The French military intervention in Mali began, at the request of the Malian government, when the Islamists began to advance towards Bamako.

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