Human Rights Watch (HRW) has accused the JNIM jihadist group, the Azawad Liberation Front (FLA), Mali’s army, and the Russian-backed Africa Corps of committing serious abuses against civilians since fighting escalated following coordinated attacks on April 25 and 26.
In a report released Monday, June 29, the organization states that “all parties have illegally attacked civilians” and some have also “destroyed and looted their homes and businesses.” The clashes triggered by the JNIM and FLA offensive against several junta positions reportedly killed at least 13 civilians and wounded 25 others in Gao and Kidal.
A 38-year-old resident of Kidal recounts being wounded during the fighting. “I was hit by bullets in my right shoulder and left thigh,” he explains, unable to identify the source of the fire, “the shots came from all directions.”
Executions, drone strikes, and destruction denounced
HRW also accuses the JNIM of setting fire to 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 his head,” a resident told the NGO.
The organization also points to the Malian army, accusing it of killing 38 civilians, including 23 children, during operations against Fulani communities in central Mali. Two suspected drone strikes are also mentioned, in Guimbé and Tené. “I heard a noise from the sky then an explosion,” says a resident of Tené. “We saw that the damage was enormous, with dead and wounded.”
To establish these facts, HRW says it conducted 34 remote interviews and analyzed satellite imagery, videos, and photographs. The NGO says it contacted Malian authorities but received no response. The JNIM stated that “there can be no war without human costs,” while the FLA claims to have “taken sufficient measures so that civilians are not collateral victims of the fighting.”
