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Tripoli, 2 February 2013;
There were small demonstrations today in Sebha as well as Obari and nearby Maknusa by Tuaregs protesting at . . .[restrict]what they called “ethnic cleansing” in northern Mali.
The protestors, reported as no more than 100 in each of the towns, called for an end to attacks on Tuaregs and Arabs in what they referred to as Azawad, the name the Tuareg gave to their abortive independent state in the north of Mali.
There have been reports of atrocities, including summary executions and rapes, carried out by the Malian army in the wake of the military operation led by the French to free the region from the control of militant Islamists. Tuaregs and Arabs in the area have been accused of supporting the fleeing militants.
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