All warring parties in Mali committed serious abuses against civilians, report says
Human Rights Watch says fighters, soldiers and militias killed civilians, burned homes and looted vehicles as violence spread after the April offensive.
- Human Rights Watch reported on Monday that all parties in Mali's escalating conflict have committed serious abuses against civilians since April 2026, including killings by Islamist groups, the Malian army, and allied Russian forces.
- The surge in violence follows an April 2026 offensive where the Al-Qaeda-linked coalition JNIM joined forces with Tuareg fighters of the Azawad Liberation Front to challenge the military junta backed by the Africa Corps.
- Between May 6 and 21, militants burned more than 40 civilian vehicles near Zambougou during a siege on Bamako; separate military drone strikes in Guimbé and Tené killed at least 12 and 10 civilians respectively.
- Ilaria Allegrozzi, senior Sahel researcher at Human Rights Watch, said "longstanding impunity continues to fuel the cycle of abuses against civilians in Mali," calling on the United Nations and African Union to support independent investigations.
- Mali's withdrawal from the Economic Community of West African States in January 2025 and exit from the International Criminal Court in September 2025 further constrain access to justice for alleged war crimes.
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"There can be no war without human costs," said the GSIM, the Sahelian branch of Al-Qaeda, in its response to the NGO. "As for their allies, the FLA, he claims to have "taken enough measures to ensure that civilians are not collateral victims of the fighting."
All warring parties in Mali committed 'grave abuses' against civilians, report says
Al-Qaeda-linked jihadists, the Malian army and its Russian allies have all committed "grave abuses" against civilians during and after the April attacks that rocked the West African country, Human Rights…
Associated Press News
All warring parties in Mali committed serious abuses against civilians, report says
Islamic militants and Malian armed forces and their allies committed serious rights abuses against civilians during attacks across the West African country earlier this year, Human Rights Watch said.
In a new report on Mali released on Monday, 29 June, the human rights NGO is interested in the abuses committed in the country by the Islamic and Muslim Support Group (Jnim) and the Malian army and its Russian substitutes of the Africa Corps since the attacks of 25 April. On that day, the jihadists and their partners of the Azawad Liberation Front had notably killed the Malian Defense Minister and conquered the city of Kidal, in the North.
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