U.N. Investigators to Probe Mali Protest Violence

Three independent experts will travel to Mali soon to begin an inquiry into the deaths of three protesters allegedly by U.N. troops, the U.N. said Friday.

Witnesses said the three Malians were shot in the northern town of Gao by peacekeepers during protests on January 27 against a U.N. plan to assert control over an area north of the town.

The inquiry will be led by Bacre Waly Ndiaye of Senegal and include Briton Ralph Zacklin and American Mark Kroeker.

The United Nations has informed the Mali government of the inquiry and has received assurances of support, a U.N. statement said.

The U.N. mission in Mali, MINUSMA, initially denied it was behind the deaths during the demonstrations but later said it would investigate to establish its role in the violence.

U.N. police forces used tear gas and fired warning shots in the air, but it is unclear how the three protesters were killed, according to U.N. officials.

The protesters were angry about a U.N. plan to create a buffer zone in the northern town of Tabankort, which they said would undermine pro-government armed groups fighting rebels in the area.

Tabankort is part of a large swathe of desert which is the cradle of a Tuareg separatist movement that wants an independent homeland it calls "Azawad," and from which several rebellions have been launched since the 1960s.

Mali descended into crisis when an insurgency by Tuareg rebels led to a coup in the capital Bamako in March 2012. Militants linked to al-Qaida then overpowered the Tuareg to seize control of Mali's northern desert.

A French-led military intervention launched in January 2013 drove out the extremists, but the Tuareg rebels remain active throughout the northeast of the country.