This week alone, two reports alerted us to the situation, in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger. Each time it is the civilian populations who pay the price, with crimes committed both by jihadists but also by regular armies.
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A first report is signed by Amnesty International. The NGO highlights in particular the blockades imposed in at least 46 localities in Burkina Faso. Jihadists are laying siege to communities. Impossible to get in, impossible to get out. This approach started in 2019 but has really grown since last year. Armed groups attack supply convoys intended for civilians.
Added to this is the fact that in Burkina, it is estimated that one in 12 people have been forced to leave their homes because of the conflict. The NGO Acled, which counts the number of victims in conflicts, speaks of more than 1,400 civilians killed last year to which must be added those in 2023. Civilian deaths that we owe as much to the jihadists as to the forces national armies, insists Amnesty, which extends its diagnosis to border countries such as Niger, Benin, Togo, Ghana and even the north of Ivory Coast.
A second report goes in the same direction. It is that of Human Rights Watch which is particularly interested in Mali. And this report begins with this sentence: “Attacks on civilians by Islamist armed groups and killings of suspects by pro-government forces during counter-terrorism operations have increased.” Attacks and summary executions are committed with complete impunity. And to specify that these abuses have taken place in central and northern Mali, particularly since April 2023.
France can no longer be singled out as a scapegoat
The NGO accuses Islamists and regular forces of having killed at least forty children. She also points the finger at the Russian Wagner group, accused of participating in these atrocities, before ending her report by emphasizing that since the end of August, the situation has deteriorated significantly after the resumption of hostilities between the rebels. Tuareg and the Malian army. These are detailed reports, with testimonies and investigations, available on the websites of the two NGOs.
The situation is deteriorating and putting forward the argument that it is the fault of the French will become more and more difficult because, as the months pass, the French presence becomes more distant. It will become more and more complicated for the putschists in power in Mali, Burkina Faso or Niger to use France as a scapegoat. Because, contrary to what the juntas had suggested, it turns out that France’s departure has not simplified the situation and that it is even the opposite for the populations concerned. And the question will quickly arise as to who they will be able to turn to afterwards, once the failure of the military dictatorships is confirmed.