HRW: Mali Army, Russian Allies Killed Civilians

In mid-July, soldiers shot and killed five girls during a counter-insurgency operation in central Mali's Segou region. No one has been held to account. That's one finding in a new Human Rights Watch report published Monday, October 19, 2026. It accuses the Malian military and its Russian paramilitary allies of killing and wounding scores of civilians, both in attacks and in custody, in violation of international humanitarian law.

The report also criticizes the army's opponents. It says the al-Qaeda-linked jihadist group JNIM summarily executed Malian soldiers after attacking a military convoy in July. Civilians and captured combatants alike are caught in a conflict where nearly every party breaks the rules of war.

"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. It urged the African Union's Peace and Security Council to "urgently take action to prevent further atrocities" in Mali.

Who Is Affected

HRW based its findings on interviews with 30 people in central and northern Mali, conducted between July 30 and September 20. Those interviewed included human rights activists, community leaders, journalists and a Malian soldier. The rights group 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. Another struck a market in Tombonkore, a central village, in August. That strike "killed six civilians and injured at least 20 others," HRW said.

The five girls killed in Segou weren't the only civilians to die at the hands of forces fighting on the government's side. Later that month, Dozo militia allies "killed three civilians" in the central Mopti region, HRW said, "all with impunity."

Abuses by Armed Groups

The report also describes violence by JNIM, also known as the Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims, and separatists from the mainly Tuareg Azawad Liberation Front (FLA). On July 18, the two groups attacked a military convoy in Tabrichat, in the northeastern Gao region. They then "tortured and executed at least 19 Malian soldiers taken prisoner," HRW said.

JNIM admitted that prisoners were killed, but denied ordering the deaths. The FLA acknowledged clashes with the army and Russians in Tabrichat, but denied executing soldiers.

A Long Crisis, Few Checks

Mali has faced a security crisis since 2012, with the army and its Russian allies fighting jihadist fighters, Tuareg separatist groups and criminal gangs. That's 14 years of conflict. After back-to-back coups in 2020 and 2021, the junta that has ruled since turned to Russia for support, enlisting paramilitaries from the Wagner Group, which became the Africa Corps in 2025.

HRW's report isn't the only recent account. A late-September report by Amnesty International 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.

Why This Matters:

Two major human rights organisations have documented abuses by the same security forces within weeks of each other. HRW describes a pattern of impunity: killings carried out, with nobody answering for them. Civilians in Kidal, Segou, Mopti and elsewhere bear the cost, losing family members, markets and a health centre in a country where basic services were already stretched thin.

HRW's complaint that international bodies and governments "largely stand by" points to a gap in multilateral accountability. Its call to the African Union's Peace and Security Council puts a hard question before a regional institution with the standing to act: who enforces the laws of war, and who protects people who can't protect themselves?