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Rights group claims Russian mercenaries worked with Malian army on herder killings
Over 80 Fulani herders have disappeared and at least a dozen have been executed by the Malian army and Wagner group, the Russian mercenary outfit, according to a new report by Human Rights Watch (HRW), an NGO.
HRW says that the killings and abductions, which have taken place since January, have been the result of joint operations targeting Islamist militias. Islamist insurgents, led by Jama'at Nusrat al Islam wa al Muslimeen (JNIM), have sought to recruit Fulani men to the cause, making the community a target for the Malian army.
Elsewhere, HRW says that it has received witness testimony, corroborated by the United Nations, that the Malian army and Wagner operates executed up 65 Fulani herders and cattle traders in the Kayes region, in April after rounding them up and taking them toward an army camp (AC Vol 62 No 20, Toxic relationship in the Sahel).
Kayes, the regional capital of western Mali, has seen a series of JNIM attacks in recent months.
HRW has urged the African Union to push for investigations and prosecutions of the crimes. However, the reports highlight the disconnect between military juntas such as Mali and regional and continental organisations such as the AU.
With French and other European armed forces having been kicked out of Mali and its neighbours in the Sahel by the military juntas in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, the juntas have instead stepped up their cooperation with Wagner.
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