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Associated Press
20-05-2025
- Politics
- Associated Press
Families mourn and call for probe after Malian soldiers accused of massacre
BAMAKO, Mali (AP) — Military personnel in Mali carried out 'apparent summary executions' of at least 22 people in the conflict-hit central region of the country, advocacy group Human Rights Watch said Tuesday. At least three families and two local leaders recounted to The Associated Press how Malian soldiers seized more than 20 men from a market in the village of Diafarabé in the central Mopti region. The men's bodies were later found in two mass graves. Diafarabé, whose inhabitants mostly belong to the Fulani ethnic group, is in an area where JNIM, an Al Qaida-linked extremist organization, is active and regularly targets the Malian army with attacks. Such extrajudicial killings are becoming increasingly common under Mali's military junta, including late last year when Human Rights Watch accused the army and Russia's Wagner Group of killing dozens of civilians and setting fire to at least 100 houses during military operations. In a new report on Tuesday, HRW called for an independent investigation into the killings, saying the probe being led by the military 'raises grave concerns that the inquiry will not be independent or impartial.' Locals previously told the AP the Malian army arrested the victims of the latest killings at the market in Diafarabé, but one escaped from custody and, upon return, raised the alarm that others had been executed. In interviews with AP this week, villagers recounted seeing decomposing bodies in the graves. 'The villagers of Diafarabé went to the location ... and they discovered two mass graves,' said Diowro Diallo, president of the local Fulani association Dental Wuwardé. Among those killed was Abba Dicko, 44, one of his relatives said, speaking anonymously out of fear for their safety. 'The bodies were in such a state of decomposition that we could not identify them or count them accurately, but we believe the account of the person who escaped the massacre and raised the alarm,' the relative said. Another resident who gave only his first name as Cissé for fear of being arrested, said his 32-year-old son and cousin were among the victims. 'I saw the soldiers come to the market to kidnap my relatives. The arrested individuals are well-known in the village. I never imagined they would be killed in this way,' he added. Villagers also spoke about growing fear and tension in the aftermath of the killings. 'We are asking the authorities to remove the soldiers to avoid further incidents,' said one resident who said he lost four of his relatives. The Malian military has not provided any update from the inquiry it said it opened last week. Human rights experts, however, see little or no positive outcome from such a probe, citing past incidents whose investigations never resulted in any action. The military authorities have not made any progress in ensuring justice for the victims of serious rights abuses in the course of the country's deadly conflict, said Ilaria Allegrozzi, senior Sahel researcher at HRW. The failure to hold members of the security forces and the Wagner Group to account for grave abuses 'has eased the way for further atrocities,' Allegrozzi added.
Zawya
20-05-2025
- Politics
- Zawya
Mali: 22 Men Found Dead After Arrest by Soldiers
Mali 's government should credibly and independently investigate the apparent extrajudicial executions of at least 22 men taken in military custody on May 12, 2025, in the town of Diafarabé, central Mali, Human Rights Watch said today. Residents who saw the bodies three days later said the victims were in two shallow mass graves with their throats slit. On May 16, the chief of staff of the Malian armed forces announced a gendarmerie investigation into the disappearance of civilians in Diafarabé and that a military team was deployed to the town to collect testimonies and organize searches. A military investigation of an alleged massacre by soldiers raises grave concerns that the inquiry will not be independent or impartial, Human Rights Watch said. 'The killing of at least 22 men in military custody puts a burden on the Malian authorities to demonstrate that its investigation is credible and to make public its findings,' said Ilaria Allegrozzi, senior Sahel researcher at Human Rights Watch. 'Authorities should fully and fairly prosecute all those responsible and promptly provide compensation to the victims' families.' Between May 13 and 18, Human Rights Watch interviewed by phone five people who witnessed the arrests, one man who was arrested and survived the executions, and five others with knowledge of the incident. Local sources gave Human Rights Watch a list of 22 victims, all ethnic Fulani men between the ages of 32 and 67. The witnesses also said five additional men were arrested, including at least one ethnic Tamasheq, but their names and ages were not known. Witnesses told Human Rights Watch that the arrests took place between 10 a.m. and 11 a.m. during a military operation in Diafarabé, along the Niger River in Mali's central Mopti region. They said that Malian soldiers took in custody at least 22 Fulani men who were trading at the local cattle market and took them to the river. There, soldiers apprehended at least five other men, loaded them onto a canoe, and took them across the river. 'Armed soldiers wearing Malian military uniforms entered the market on foot and started arresting Fulani traders,' a 53-year-old trader said. 'They tied their hands behind their back before they took them to the river and blindfolded them.' Witnesses said at around 2 p.m. on the same day, they saw the soldiers return to town without the arrested men. The following day, women staged a protest in front of the Diafarabé military base calling on soldiers to provide information about their relatives, without success. Additional residents joined the protest, which continued until May 15, when the military agreed to escort a delegation of approximately 19 people from Diafarabé to the site across the Niger river where the arrested men were taken. 'We found about 22 bodies in two poorly dug mass graves,' said a man whose father was among those killed and went to the location of the killings with soldiers. 'All the men had their throats slashed, some appeared almost decapitated. It was so horrible that even a military commander who was accompanying us had to sit down not to faint.' The bodies were exhumed and reburied in the two mass graves at the execution site. A man who was detained and escaped the executions said: 'I was not blindfolded well.… [S]oldiers used our scarves to cover our eyes, but I could see what was going on.' He said that after they crossed the river, the soldiers took them to a place located near the Diafarabé cemetery and ordered them to sit down. 'Then, they took people in small groups of two or three and slit their throats.… I could hear the loud screaming.' He said that when soldiers were coming for him, he ran away. 'As I stood, the scarf covering my eyes fell and I ran as fast as I could … [S]oldiers shot at me three times, but I wasn't hit.… [A] soldier chased me, but I hid … I heard soldiers in the back telling the one chasing me, 'If you don't catch him, we will kill you.'' The survivor said that he waited until soldiers left to cross the river again. International media also reported on the Diafarabé killings. On May 16, Human Rights Watch contacted the Malian authorities to share its findings on the events in Diafarabé and seek a response. At the time of publication, the Malian authorities had not responded. The massacre occurred amid the security and humanitarian crisis that Mali has been grappling with since 2012, when Islamist armed groups linked to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State in the Sahel began carrying out major attacks. These armed groups, which have largely recruited from the Fulani community, have attacked civilians as well as government security forces throughout Mali. The conflict has resulted in the deaths of thousands of civilians and forcibly displaced over 350,000 more.' Witnesses in Diafarabé said they believe the soldiers targeted Fulani men, whom they accused of collaborating with the Islamist fighters. The Al-Qaeda-linked Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (Jama'at Nusrat al-Islam wa al-Muslimeen, JNIM) is present in the Mopti region where it frequently carries out attacks against the security forces and allied militias. Human Rights Watch has extensively documented serious abuses by the Malian security forces during counterinsurgency operations across Mali, including mass killings, enforced disappearances of civilians, and unlawful drone strikes. All parties to Mali's armed conflict are bound by international humanitarian law, notably Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and customary laws of war. Common Article 3 prohibits violence against anyone in custody, 'in particular murder of all kinds.' Individuals who commit serious violations of the laws of war with criminal intent, that is, intentionally or recklessly, may be prosecuted for war crimes. Commanders may be liable for war crimes as a matter of command responsibility if they knew or should have known about abuses by forces under their control but did not stop or punish them. 'The commander of the Diafarabé military base should be immediately suspended pending the outcome of a thorough investigation,' Allegrozzi said. 'The authorities need to take all necessary measures to ensure that survivors and witnesses to this incident are protected.' Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Human Rights Watch (HRW).
