Human Rights Watch has accused the JNIM jihadist group, their allies in the Front for the Liberation of Azawad (FLA), the Malian military, and Russian Africa Corps mercenaries of perpetrating serious abuses against civilians since the escalation of fighting following coordinated attacks on April 25-26. In a report released Monday, the organization stated that “all parties have unlawfully attacked civilians” and that some also “destroyed and looted their homes and businesses.” The clashes that erupted after the JNIM and FLA offensive against junta positions reportedly killed at least 13 civilians and wounded 25 others in Gao and Kidal.
A 38-year-old resident of Kidal described being wounded during the fighting. “I was hit by bullets in the right shoulder and left thigh,” he said, unable to identify the source of the fire, adding “the shots came from all directions.”
Executions, strikes, and destruction
HRW also accused JNIM of burning more than 40 civilian vehicles between May 6 and 21 on roads leading to Bamako, and of “publicly executing a man” in the town of Tonka. “We recovered his body (…) with a bullet in the head,” a local resident told the organization.
The report also implicates the Malian army, accusing it of killing 38 civilians, including 23 children, during operations against Peul communities in central Mali. Two suspected drone strikes in Guimbé and Tené were also documented. “I heard a noise from the sky then an explosion,” a resident of Tené recounted. “We saw that the damage was enormous, with dead and wounded.”
To substantiate these findings, HRW conducted 34 remote interviews, analyzed satellite imagery, videos, and photographs. The organization said it contacted Malian authorities but received no response. JNIM stated that “there can be no war without human costs,” while the FLA asserted it had “taken sufficient measures to ensure civilians are not collateral victims of the fighting.”
