More Wagner Atrocities Reported in Mali

ADF STAFF

Members of the Malian armed forces and Russian Wagner Group mercenaries reportedly are sowing terror and committing “grave human rights abuses.”

The reports of atrocities come from multiple sources: a United Nations panel of experts, Tuareg former rebels in northern Mali, international advocacy organization Human Rights Watch (HRW) and the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED).

In its report to the U.N. Security Council, the experts warned of “systematic” sexual violence by Malian troops as well as “presumed” elements of the Wagner group.

“The panel believes that violence against women, and other forms of grave abuses of human rights and international humanitarian law are being used, specifically by the foreign security partners, to spread terror among populations,” the experts wrote, according to a Reuters report.

“These practices potentially create a fear of reprisals, which acts as a deterrent for communities and armed groups who would otherwise seek to threaten the foreign security partners or harm them.”

Islamic extremist groups have been on a rampage in northern, central and eastern Mali, killing hundreds and forcing thousands to flee their homes. Mali has struggled to contain the violent insurgency, which began in 2012.

Mali’s military junta, which took power with coups in 2020 and 2021, hired Russia’s Wagner Group mercenaries in 2021 to fill a security void it created by expelling a French-led multinational force that had been fighting the extremists.

At least 5,750 people have been killed in more than 1,740 incidents across Mali between January 2022 and March 2023, according to ACLED, a crisis mapping project.

In recent years, the conflict spilled into neighboring Sahel countries such as Burkina Faso and Niger. Persistent attacks by militants linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State have forced hundreds of thousands of people to flee their homes, and nearly 9 million people require humanitarian assistance.

ACLED recorded 298 violent incidents involving the Wagner Group in Mali between December 2021 and June 2023. The number of these events peaked in the first quarter of 2023.

In an August 2 report on Wagner’s global operations, ACLED said locals in the central region reported that the Russian mercenaries had participated in about 90% of Malian military operations.

In 2022, ACLED reported on the Wagner Group’s introduction of booby-trapping, a tactic not previously used by Malian forces or their partners.

“Since then, Wagner’s tactics in Mali have further evolved to incorporate more heinous methods, such as the booby-trapping of bodies, the ejection of prisoners from aircrafts, and the destruction of telecommunication antennas in their operational zones,” ACLED stated in its new report.

“Wagner’s engagements range from traditional operations against jihadist militants to military actions against local militias and unidentified armed groups. However, Wagner mercenaries most frequently engage in the targeting of civilians through mass killings, abductions, and looting.”

Wagner is believed to have between 1,000 and 1,645 fighters in Mali. They are led by Ivan Maslov, who is facing international sanctions for trying to traffic arms in Mali for use in Russia’s war on Ukraine.

In operations across the continent, Wagner mercenaries consistently have left a trail of destruction and civilian deaths resulting in numerous allegations of war crimes and human rights abuses.

On August 7, Tuareg former rebels in Foita, northern Mali, accused the Russian mercenary group of attacking one of their bases and killing two of their men.

“This attack was carried out by the Malian armed forces and their Wagner proxies,” the Taureg group said in a statement to Agence France-Presse.

Calling it “a hateful, premeditated act,” the former rebels said that Wagner “deliberately undermined” a ceasefire that the previous civilian government had agreed upon with the rebels.

In its report published on July 24, HRW said that Wagner Group fighters and Malian soldiers “have summarily executed and forcibly disappeared several dozen civilians in Mali’s central region since December 2022.

“They also destroyed and looted civilian property and allegedly tortured detainees in an army camp.”

The HRW report comes weeks after Mali began ousting the U.N. peacekeeping mission known as MINUSMA, which had been operating in the country for a decade and investigated human rights abuses as part of its work.

“MINUSMA had flaws and weaknesses but was capable of carrying out some very important activities, including granting a minimum of security to urban centers in central and northern Mali,” HRW senior researcher Ilaria Allegrozzi told The Associated Press.

Allegrozzi and many other experts warn that Mali’s use of Wagner mercenaries in its counterterrorism approach will further destabilize the country.

“Killing civilians in the name of security won’t help,” she said.