Here we go again (from StarAfrica.com):

A statement from the UNHCR quoted its spokesperson Melissa Fleming during a news briefing in Geneva on Friday as saying that a further 700 000 people may be displaced by the fresh wave of violence to hit the landlocked West African country as a foreign intervention force engage the rebels who have been in control of northern Mali since April 2012.

“We believe there could be in the near future an additional 300,000 displaced inside Mali and up to 400 000 additional displaced people in neighbouring countries as a result of the unrest” Fleming remarked.

According to her horrific, accounts of amputations and executions have been reported in Islamist-controlled regions of Mali, with claims suggesting that some civilians were being lured with large sums of money to defend the territories from the onslaught by Malian troops backed by French ground forces and airstrikes.

She also said there were reports of children fighting within the ranks of the rebels who continue to put up stiff resistance against intervention forces.

Close to 200, 000 displaced Malians have fled to neighbouring Mauritania, Niger, Burkina Faso and Algeria since the conflict began in March 2012 with over 300, 000 more internally displaced.

Will Samantha Power and her “responsibility to protect” get us into this conflict too?