Mali’s Military and Russian Allies Accused of Civilian Abuses

Malian soldiers shot and killed five girls during a counter-insurgency operation in the central Segou region in mid-July, Human Rights Watch said in a report published Monday. The report also documents civilian deaths in drone attacks, abuses by militia allies and killings in custody. Civilians bear the cost, caught beneath armed forces and groups fighting for control.

“The Malian military, armed groups and insurgent forces are committing grave laws-of-war violations while international organisations and governments largely stand by,” HRW said. The organization urged the African Union's Peace and Security Council to “urgently take action to prevent further atrocities” in Mali. HRW directs its appeal to an institution with power to act. Its report describes people left exposed while governments and international organizations largely stand by.

Civilians under fire

HRW said researchers interviewed 30 people in central and northern Mali between July 30 and September 20. They spoke with human rights activists, community leaders, journalists and a Malian soldier. The report documented “two apparently indiscriminate Malian military drone attacks.”

One attack partially destroyed a health centre in Talhandak village, in the northern Kidal region, in July. In August, another drone struck a market in Tombonkore, a central village. HRW said that attack “killed six civilians and injured at least 20 others.” These are places civilians rely on: a market and a health centre, both damaged by military operations the report says violated the laws of war.

The report said the Dozo militia, allies of Malian soldiers, killed three civilians later in July in the central Mopti region, “all with impunity.” In Segou, soldiers killed five girls during a counter-insurgency operation in mid-July, HRW said. The report describes the force used by the military and its allies. It offers no account of an investigation or accountability for the deaths.

Mali has faced a security crisis since 2012, as the army and its Russian allies fight jihadist fighters, Tuareg separatist groups and criminal gangs. The junta has ruled since back-to-back coups in 2020 and 2021, and turned to Russia for support, enlisting paramilitaries from the Wagner Group, which became the Africa Corps in 2025. This is the structure behind the military partnership named in the report: a junta, the army and Russian paramilitary forces operating amid an ongoing conflict.

Abuses across the conflict

HRW also reported abuses by JNIM, also known as the Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims, and separatists from the mainly Tuareg Azawad Liberation Front, or FLA. On July 18, JNIM and the FLA attacked a military convoy in Tabrichat, in the northeastern Gao region. HRW said they then “tortured and executed at least 19 Malian soldiers taken prisoner.”

JNIM admitted prisoners died but denied ordering the deaths. The FLA acknowledged clashes with the army and Russians in Tabrichat but denied executing soldiers. HRW's account names violations by state forces, allied militia and insurgent groups. The African Union's Peace and Security Council faces the report's call to act. It describes no grassroots response or mutual-aid effort.

A late-September report by Amnesty International also said Mali's armed forces and Wagner Group personnel committed war crimes, including killings and torture of civilians, during joint operations across the country between 2023 and 2025. Two rights organizations have now made accusations. Civilians remain the people the reports describe as killed, injured and left to face armed power.