Mali security deteriorates as jihadists commit murder, rape

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 13 July 2023.

“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.

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ARMED GROUPS ATTACK CIVILIANS IN MALI

“Islamist armed groups are brutally attacking civilians and fuelling a massive humanitarian emergency,” said HRW senior Sahel researcher Ilaria Allegrozzi.

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.

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Dozens of witnesses told investigators the jihadists 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.

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DEPARTURE OF UN PEACEKEEPERS

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.

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HRW said Russia’s Wagner Group had 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-jihadist operation, which the junta denied. Mali has been battling a security crisis since Islamist and separatist insurgencies broke out in the north in 2012.