Mali conflict: harsh report accuses army, JNIM and rebels of severe civilian abuses

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has released a report accusing the Support Group for Islam and Muslims (JNIM), their allies from the Azawad Liberation Front (FLA), the Malian army, and the Russian Africa Corps auxiliary forces of committing serious abuses against civilians since the escalation of fighting following coordinated attacks on April 25 and 26.

The NGO states that “all parties have illegally attacked civilians” and that some also “destroyed and looted homes and businesses.” The clashes triggered by the JNIM and FLA offensive against several junta positions have left at least 13 civilians dead and 25 wounded in Gao and Kidal.

A 38-year-old resident of Kidal recounted being wounded during the fighting. “I was hit by bullets in my right shoulder and left thigh,” he explained, unable to identify the source of the fire, as “shots were coming from all directions.”

Executions, strikes and destruction reported

HRW also accuses the JNIM of setting fire to over 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 to the head,” a local resident told the NGO.

The organisation also implicates the Malian army, which it says killed 38 civilians, including 23 children, during operations targeting Fulani communities in central Mali. Two alleged drone strikes are also cited, in Guimbé and Tené. “I heard a noise from the sky, then an explosion,” a Tené resident recalled. “We saw that the damage was enormous, with dead and wounded.”

To establish these facts, HRW says it conducted 34 remote interviews and analysed satellite images, videos and photographs. The NGO approached Malian authorities but received no response. The JNIM stated that “there can be no war without human costs,” while the FLA claimed to have “taken sufficient measures so that civilians are not collateral victims of the fighting.”