Mali army, rebels committed war abuses, HRW says

Human Rights Watch said Monday that Mali's army, its Russian paramilitary allies and rebel opponents have committed serious laws-of-war violations, including killings of civilians and executions of captured soldiers.

The rights group urged the African Union's Peace and Security Council to act to prevent further atrocities in Mali, where the army and Russian allies are fighting jihadist fighters, Tuareg separatist groups and criminal gangs.

HRW said Mali's military and the Russia-controlled Africa Corps had killed and wounded scores of civilians in attacks and in custody in violation of international humanitarian law. It also said Islamist and separatist fighters had violated the laws of war, including by torturing and executing captured Malian soldiers.

The group said its latest findings were based on interviews conducted between July 30 and September 20 with 30 people in central and northern Mali, including human rights activists, community leaders, journalists and a Malian soldier.

HRW said it documented two apparently indiscriminate Malian military drone attacks. It said one partially destroyed a health centre in Talhandak village in the northern Kidal region in July. It said another hit a market in Tombonkore in central Mali in August, killing six civilians and injuring at least 20 others.

The group said Malian soldiers shot and killed five girls during a counter-insurgency operation in the central Segou region in mid-July. It also said Dozo militia allies killed three civilians later that month in the central Mopti region.

HRW said it sent a letter to Mali's defence minister on August 5 with findings and questions but received no response.

The report also cited abuses by fighters from the Al-Qaeda-affiliated JNIM and separatists from the mainly Tuareg Azawad Liberation Front. HRW said the groups attacked a military convoy in Tabrichat, in the northeastern Gao region, in July and then tortured and executed at least 19 Malian soldiers taken prisoner.

HRW said JNIM acknowledged that prisoners were killed at Tabrichat but denied ordering the deaths. The Azawad Liberation Front acknowledged clashes with the army and the Russians in Tabrichat but denied executing soldiers.

Mali has faced a security crisis since 2012. The junta that has ruled since coups in 2020 and 2021 has turned to Russia for support, including paramilitaries from the Wagner Group, which became Africa Corps in 2025.