HRW: Mali army, Africa Corps and rebels killed civilians

Human Rights Watch said Monday that Mali’s military and its Russian-controlled Africa Corps allies killed and wounded scores of civilians this summer, and that insurgent fighters tortured and executed at least 19 captured Malian soldiers.

The rights group’s report, released Oct. 19, cites data from the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED) showing 49 air strikes by Malian forces and Africa Corps between April and August killed 89 civilians. That is more than double the 22 strikes and 44 civilian deaths in the same period last year.

The report, titled Mali: Military Attacks on Civilians, Insurgent Abuses, is based on remote interviews with 30 people between July 30 and Sept. 20, including 16 witnesses. Human Rights Watch said it also verified two videos and analysed 12 photographs of drone debris.

The group described two “apparently indiscriminate” Malian military drone attacks. The first, on July 29 in Talahandak village in the Kidal region, partially destroyed a health facility. The second, on Aug. 19 at a cattle market in Tombonkore village in the Bandiagara region, killed six civilians and injured at least 20 others, it said.

The report also says Malian soldiers killed five girls in the Ségou region on July 12 during a counterinsurgency operation, and that allied Dozo militiamen killed three civilians in the Mopti region on July 27 and 28. Human Rights Watch said the attacks went unpunished.

On the other side, the group said fighters from the al-Qaida-linked JNIM and the Azawad Liberation Front (FLA) tortured and executed at least 19 Malian troops taken prisoner in a convoy attack in the Gao region on July 18. Human Rights Watch said it could not determine which of the two groups carried out the killings.

Both groups denied responsibility in responses quoted in the report. An FLA spokesperson, Mohamed Elmaouloud Ramadane, said the group “categorically rejects any allegation that its forces carried out the execution.” JNIM’s Sharia committee said “we did not give the order for it.”

Ilaria Allegrozzi, the group’s senior Sahel researcher, said “the Malian military, armed groups, and insurgent forces are committing grave laws-of-war violations while international organizations and governments largely stand by.” Human Rights Watch urged the African Union to act to prevent further atrocities.

Mali’s government did not reply to a letter the group sent to the defence minister on Aug. 5, the report said. The report quotes a statement from the armed forces chief of staff on Aug. 20 describing the Tombonkore strike as hitting a “terrorist hideout” and “neutralized” about 20 “terrorists.” Human Rights Watch’s account of who died there differs.

Al Jazeera and Africanews both reported the findings. ACLED figures in the report also put the number of civilians killed by Malian forces at 268 over the same period, against 134 killed by JNIM.

For Canadians, the report underlines why Ottawa’s advice on Mali is unchanged. Global Affairs Canada tells Canadians to avoid all travel to Mali because of the threat of terrorism, kidnapping, banditry and fuel shortages. The advisory, last updated Oct. 9, warns that the Canadian embassy in Bamako may have limited ability to provide consular help if security worsens.

Canadian mining interests are also exposed. As we reported on Oct. 20, B2Gold operates the Fekola gold mine in Mali, in a region where West African and Sahel states have just agreed to open cooperation talks. The report does not mention Canadian companies.

Mali’s junta has increasingly relied on Russian forces, a shift also visible elsewhere in Africa, as our report on Madagascar’s junta leaning closer to Russia shows. The Malian government had not publicly responded to the report as of Tuesday, based on the coverage reviewed.

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Via Al Jazeera, Africanews and Human Rights Watch.