Mali is plagued by armed groups that have made large parts of the territory ungovernable. However, UN peacekeepers were kicked out.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) reports that al-Qaeda-affiliated and hostile ethnic armed groups are committing atrocities in Mali.
The watchdog said in a report released on Wednesday that fighters from Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wa al-Muslimeen (JNIM) and the Dozo militia killed 45 people in separate attacks on villages in central Mali in January. Mali has been plagued by such groups since 2015, but late last year the interim government turned away a UN peacekeeping mission.
On January 6, a Dozo armed group composed primarily of ethnic Bambara killed 13 people and kidnapped 24 civilians in the predominantly Fulani village of Kalala.
JNIM militants, mostly Fulani, attacked the villages of Ogota and Ouembe on January 27, killing at least 32 people, including three children, the report said. The attackers set fire to more than 350 houses and forced 2,000 people to flee.
HRW stressed that the attacks, which came amid recurring killings and communal violence in central Mali, violated international humanitarian law and were blatant war crimes.
“Islamist armed groups and ethnic militias brutally attack civilians without fear of prosecution,” said Ilaria Allegrozzi, senior Sahel researcher at HRW. “Authorities must act to end the deadly cycle of violence and revenge killings and better protect civilians at risk.”
Since 2015, groups allied to Al-Qaeda and ISIL (ISIS) have been operating in Mali, seizing territory and making parts of the country ungovernable.
A military government took power in 2021 and promised to crack down on insecurity, but abuses continue. The military itself has been accused of violations of the law on several occasions.
Mali and its neighbors Burkina Faso and Niger, where armed groups operate across porous borders, are all run by military governments that have seized power in recent years. All three have driven out the French forces that had once helped push back the armed groups and instead formed a security alliance, turning to Russian mercenary units for help.
In December, the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission withdrew from Mali at the request of the military government.
HRW said authorities did not adequately investigate incidents involving members of armed groups or ethnic militias.