The NGO Human Rights Watch has condemned "atrocities" committed against civilians by Mali's army, the Russian mercenary group Wagner and Islamist armed groups since UN peacekeepers withdrew a year ago.
In December 2023, Mali's ruling junta pushed the United Nations stabilisation mission (Minusma) to leave the country amid deteriorating international relations and a spike in jihadist battles and separatist violence.
Minusma had previously maintained around 15,000 soldiers and police in the Sahel state, and was in part tasked with protecting civilians and human rights.
According to a Human Rights Watch report published on Thursday, since May the Malian army – supported by the Wagner mercenary group – has "deliberately killed at least 32 civilians", forcibly disappeared four others, and burned at least 100 homes in the north and centre of the country.
The NGO also said the Al-Qaeda-linked Group to Support Islam and Muslims (JNIM) and the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS) had "summarily executed at least 47 civilians and displaced thousands of people since June".
Number of deaths could be higher
The rights group added the number of civilians deaths given in its report could be underestimated by hundreds due to difficulties conducting research in central and northern Mali.
"Since Minusma left Mali a year ago, it has been extremely difficult to get comprehensive information on abuses, and we are deeply concerned that the situation is even worse than reported," senior Sahel researcher at HRW, Ilaria Allegrozzi, was quoted as saying in the report.
HRW said it based its information on interviews with 47 witnesses and 11 other informed sources, as well as satellite imagery and verified photos and videos.
Failure of accountability
The rights group said it had sent its findings to the Bamako government but received no response.
"Malian authorities' failure to hold members of the security forces, the Wagner Group, and Islamist armed groups to account for grave abuses has eased the way for further atrocities," it said.
Minusma ended its 10-year mission in Mali on 31 December, 2023.
The junta which seized power in back-to-back coups in 2020 and 2021 has also broken off relations with former colonial ruler France and turned to Russia for political and military assistance.
