'Mali's army and suspected Russia-linked mercenaries committed new atrocities'

Malis army together with suspected mercenaries from the shadowy Russian group Wagner have committed summary executions lootings forced disappearances and other abuses a leading human rights group reported on MondayHuman Rights Watch said the atrocities happened in Malis central region and that several dozen civilians were summarily executed or forcibly disappeared since December 2022 The human rights group interviewed 40 people by phone including witnesses and reviewed a video iquestshowing evidence of abuses by Malian soldiers and associated foreign fightersiquestHRW said in its report that much of the abuse took place during military operations in response to the presence of extremist groups in the Mopti and Segou regions and all except one involved foreign nonFrench speaking armed men whom witnesses described as iquestwhiteiquest iquestRussiansiquest or iquestWagneriquestIn a response to the human rights groups correspondence Malis Foreign Affairs Ministry said it was not aware of the abuse and that an investigation would be opened into the allegationsAlso on Monday the United States imposed sanctions on three Malian officials for facilitating Wagners deployment and expansion in the country The Treasurys Office of Foreign Assets Control said it acted based on evidence showing the three officials contributed to Wagners iquestmalicious activities in MaliThe Treasury office identified the three Malian officials as Col Sadio Camara Malis minister of defence who allegedly organized the deployment Col Alou Boi Diarra Malis the air force chief of state whom the US accused of contributing to logistics for moving Russian entities in Mali and Lt Col Adama Bagayoko the air force deputy chief of staff who allegedly advocated for Wagner mercenaries to work in neighbouring Burkina FasoiquestThese officials have made their people vulnerable to the Wagner Groups destabilizing activities and human rights abuses while paving the way for the exploitation of their countrys sovereign resources to the benefit of the Wagner Groups operations in Ukraineiquest Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian E Nelson saidMercenaries from Wagners private army fought alongside Russian troops in eastern Ukraine before they staged a shortlived mutiny last monthMilitary contractors from Wagner which was founded by Yevgeny Prigozhin a millionaire businessman with ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin have bolstering Moscows forces during its invasion of Ukraine In addition to Ukraine the group operates in a handful of African countriesAfter Prigozhin led a brief revolt against the Kremlin last month he and his fighters received amnesty and permission to move to Belarus The mercenaries have been training Belarusian military personnel before an expected deployment to AfricaMali has struggled to contain an Islamic extremist insurgency since 2012 Extremist rebels were forced from power in Malis northern cities the following year with the help of a Frenchled military operation but they regrouped in the desert and began launching attacks on the Malian army and its alliesThe countrys military government ousted French forces in 2022 and has welcomed up to 1000 fighters from the Wagner Group a shadowy Russian military contractor which worked alongside Malis armed forces and has been accused by rights groups and civilians of committing abusesAccording to the people interviewed by Human Rights Watch iquestscores of Malian and white foreign soldiersiquest killed at least 20 civilians among them a woman and a 6yearold during an operation in the Mopti regionMost of the civilians killed arrested or forcibly disappeared were from the Fulani ethnic group which extremists have targeted for recruitmentThe US announced the sanctions against the Malian officials a month after Treasury sanctioned four firms and one individual connected to Wagner in the Central African Republic the United Arab Emirates and RussiaThe US also sanctioned Andrei Ivanov a Russian executive in the Wagner Group Treasury said Ivanov worked with Malian government officials on weapons deals mining projects and other Wagner Group activities in Mali Earlier this year the US designated the group a transnational criminal organisationThe HRW report comes weeks after Mali ousted the United Nations peacekeeping mission which had been operating in the country for a decade and investigated human rights abuses as part of its workiquestThe UN mission had flaws and weaknesses but was capable of carrying out some very important activities including granting a minimum of security to urban centers in central and northern Maliiquest Ilaria Allegrozzi senior researcher at HRW told The Associated PressAllegrozzi added that they are iquestconcerned about whether civilians living in the most atrisk areas will have the protection they neediquest given Wagner forces iquestgruesome reputation and appalling human rights recordiquest Reports of abuse by Malis army and foreign troops suspected to be Russian are not newLast year the UN Human Rights Office said more than 500 people were killed iquest the majority summarily executed iquest by Malian troops and foreign military personnel during a military operation in the village of Moura Allegrozzi said the governments counterterrorism strategy is abusive and wont stem the insecurity Killing civilians in the name of security wont helpiquest she saidThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever