Mali: Human rights experts call for investigation into alleged war crimes by Wagner mercenaries

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This picture is supposed to show Russian mercenaries in Mali (French military handout)

Photo: AP

UN human rights experts are calling for an independent investigation into possible war crimes in Mali by government forces and the Russian mercenary group Wagner.

The experts said on Tuesday they had received "continuous and alarming reports" of rights violations by the Malian armed forces and their allies since 2021.

These include "terrible executions, mass graves, torture, rape" and other crimes.

Among the experts are members of the UN working group on the use of mercenaries and the special rapporteur on torture.

The experts were appointed by the UN Human Rights Council but do not speak on behalf of the United Nations.

The group was particularly concerned about reports of mass executions in March last year in the village of Moura in central Mali.

According to human rights experts, Malian forces, accompanied by militiamen suspected of belonging to the Wagner group, "executed several hundred people who had been rounded up".

Most of the fatalities were therefore members of the Fulani minority, which is also called Peul.

The UN experts wrote that they were "disturbed by the apparently increasing outsourcing of traditional military tasks to the so-called Wagner Group".

The mercenaries of the Wagner group are also currently deployed in the Russian war of aggression in the Ukraine.

Before the Ukraine war, Wagner mercenaries were sighted in Syria, Libya and the Central African Republic.

The troops are accused of serious human rights violations.

Pistorius for earlier withdrawal of the Bundeswehr

Around 1,100 men and women from the Bundeswehr are currently deployed in Mali as part of the UN stabilization mission MINUSMA.

The mission serves to protect the civilian population in Mali.

It is considered to be the Bundeswehr's most dangerous mission abroad at the moment.

Also because of the presence of the Wagner mercenaries in Mali and the government's lack of willingness to cooperate, there is currently discussion in Germany as to whether the Bundeswehr should end its mission earlier than planned.

In November, the federal government decided to withdraw the mission until May next year - but made it dependent on German drones being given permission to fly.

The new Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD) brought an earlier withdrawal of the Bundeswehr into play on Monday after talks with soldiers in Mali.

Most recently, the drones "flew before Christmas," said Pistorius.

Under these conditions, the operation is "a waste of money and time."

He wants to fly to Mali soon to get an idea.

The chairwoman of the Defense Committee in the Bundestag, Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann (FDP), rejects an early withdrawal.

"We have found a way with the Foreign Office and the Ministry of Defense to bring the troops back in an orderly manner in 2024," she told the newspapers of the Bayern media group.

"There's no reason I know of to change that."

slu/AFP