The number of civilian victims of the conflict between the Malian government and jihadist groups has risen sharply since the arrival in December in the country of Russian mercenaries linked to the Wagner group.
Posted at 12:00 a.m.
In a report released Wednesday, researchers from the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) are alarmed that the security firm has increased abuses against defenseless people in past deployments and seems determined to use the same methods in the West African country.
“The Wagner Group has made the abuse of human rights an inescapable component of its operations,” said in an interview with one of the report’s authors, Jared Thompson, who fears that the Malian conflict will intensify because of the “brutal” approach of the mercenaries.
Siege of Moura
Among the slippages attributed to the Wagner group in Mali by the CSIS is notably the siege at the end of March of Moura, a town of 10,000 inhabitants located in the center of the country.
According to Human Rights Watch, Russian mercenaries, operating in concert with the Malian army, executed in small groups more than 300 civilians over a period of several days after crossing swords at the start of the attack with a small group of jihadists. .
The military junta in power in Bamako, which denies any massacre of civilians, maintains that its troops killed 200 jihadists on this occasion and took around fifty prisoners.
Requests for an international investigation were ignored by the regime, which banned investigators from the UN peacekeeping mission in Mali (MINUSMA) from going there.
Yvan Guichaoua, a specialist in security issues in the Sahel attached to the University of Kent in Brussels (Brussels School of International Studies), notes that it is possible that the operation made it possible to kill dozens of jihadists and contributed to weaken groups active in the center of the country.
The fact remains that “war crimes” have been committed by the execution without any other form of trial of many civilians wrongly identified as extremists, notes the analyst.
It is difficult, adds Mr. Guichaoua, to have a clear picture of the situation in the region since the army has imposed an overflight ban since January and prevents any outside intervener, including MINUSMA personnel, from getting in. get there.
Investigation blocked
Russia has contributed to this lack of transparency by blocking a request for an international investigation from the Security Council, testifying to its close ties with the new Malian regime and the Wagner group, which is headed by a reputed oligarch close to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Vanda Felbab-Brown, an international security specialist with the Brookings Institution, notes that the organization is often used by the Kremlin to advance its interests in unstable countries.
This link, she says, is not officially recognized, which allows Russia to distance itself when abuses are noted.
According to Mr. Thompson, the “nebula of individuals and shell companies” that make up the Wagner group often obtains in exchange for security services the right to exploit part of the mineral resources of the country where they are established.
Mme Felbab-Brown notes that the organization’s lack of regard for respect for human rights makes its services attractive to authoritarian regimes seeking to assert their authority and secure themselves against any reversal of power without having to worry about humanitarian restrictions.
Yvan Guichaoua notes that the military junta that took power in Mali in May 2021 called on Russian mercenaries “because it wants to strike fast and hard and reduce the jihadist threat by freeing itself” from such constraints.
The regime formally denies any contract with the Wagner group and is content to mention the presence of “Russian instructors” on its territory.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the opposite last week on Italian television, noting that an agreement “for the supply of security services” had indeed been signed with the Wagner group. He reiterated on this occasion that it is a private company “having nothing to do with the Russian state”.
The Russian mercenaries arrived several months after the French government announced its intention to end the Barkhane military operation launched in the country in 2014 to counter the jihadists.
“In eight years of presence, there had not been very convincing results” in this regard, notes Mr. Guichaoua.
Paris, adds the analyst, would have liked to be able to continue to carry out counter-terrorist operations with special forces, but the project fell through due to tensions with Bamako.
Mr. Thompson notes that the muscular approach adopted by the Malian regime, with the support of the Wagner group, risks proving “counterproductive” since the communities victims of abusive interventions could turn to the jihadists, or local militias to ensure their safety.
“It’s not a viable long-term strategy,” warns the analyst.