Human Rights Watch: Militias stepping up murder, rape in Mali
Thursday July 13 2023
Soldiers of the Malian army are seen during a patrol on the road between Mopti and Djenne, in central Mali, on February 28, 2020. PHOTO | AFP
Armed Islamist groups have carried out widespread killing, rape and looting in northeast Mali this year forcing thousands of people to flee, Human Rights Watch said Thursday.
"Security has deteriorated sharply amid clashes between two armed Islamist groups as they seek to control supply routes and increase their influence," the New York-based watchdog said in a report.
"Islamist armed groups are brutally attacking civilians and fuelling a massive humanitarian emergency," said HRW senior Sahel researcher Ilaria Allegrozzi.
Read: Civilians flee from jihadists in Mali
The report documents six attacks in the Gao region and two in Menaka between January and June, with unconfirmed reports from aid workers and witnesses suggesting hundreds of civilians died and tens of thousands were forced to flee.
Dozens of witnesses told investigators the militias were armed with assault rifles, sometimes rocket propelled grenade launchers, rode motorbikes and pickup trucks, and wore identifiable turbans.
According to witnesses, the fighters spoke the local languages Tamashek, Fulfulde, Songhai, and Hausa, as well as Arabic, and sometimes carried the Islamic State flag.
HRW noted that "amid the mounting abuses", the departure from July 1 to year end of UN peacekeepers at Bamako's demand "makes things worse".
The departure of UN peacekeepers means that the Malian authorities need to ramp up efforts to protect civilians and work closely with international partners to ensure that displaced people have access to aid and basic services," said Allegrozzi.
HRW said Russia's Wagner Group has been implicated in "atrocities" in several African countries, including Mali, and also documented "serious abuses" by Malian security as well as "apparent Wagner forces during counter-insurgency operations in Central Mali".
Since taking over in 2020, the ruling junta in Bamako has aligned politically and militarily with Russia and broken ties with traditional ally France.
The UN accused the Malian army and foreign fighters in May of executing 500 people during an anti-militia operation, which the junta denied.
Read: UN: Mali army, foreign forces killed 500 people
Mali has been battling a security crisis since Islamist and separatist insurgencies broke out in the north in 2012.