An independent rights expert warns that multifaceted crises facing Mali, propelled by increasing attacks from Islamist armed groups, are leading to a rapid deterioration of the country’s security situation and surging human rights violations, with potentially serious effects in the region. The warning comes as Mali is experiencing enormous humanitarian needs, with 30 percent of the population - 7.1 million - in need of assistance this year.
“I reiterate my serious concerns by the rapid and continuing deterioration of the security situation in almost all regions of Mali that appears to be escaping from all control of the authorities,” said Alioune Tine, an independent expert on human rights in Mali.
Tine, who submitted his latest report to the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) Thursday, said, “Increasingly we see confrontation of violent extremist groups seeking to control the country to the detriment of civilians, who are the main victims caught in the crossfire.”
The independent expert expressed serious concern about attacks on civilians and Malian defense and security forces by violent extremist groups. The report documents numerous cases of killings and injuries from improvised explosive devices, kidnappings of civilians, pillaging, armed robberies, extortion and destruction of property.
The report says deadly attacks have occurred in all regions of the country, principally in Gao and Timbuktu in the north; Mopti, Bandiagara and Segou in central Mali; and Kayes and San in the south.
Tine said he was worried by the marked deterioration of the human rights situation and protection of civilians.
“According to recent information between 2022 and 2023, violations and attacks on human rights rose by almost 86%, violations and attacks on the right to life rose by almost 28%, and gender-based violence documented cases rose by 12.5%.”
Additionally, he noted that insecurity and ongoing humanitarian crises have forced many schools to close, depriving almost 500,000 children of the right to education, “which is a ticking social time bomb.”
He called on Malian authorities to step up their efforts to prosecute human rights violators and to hold them accountable for their crimes.
“While violent extremist groups have continued to be the presumed perpetrators of most human rights violations in Mali, the high number and severity of the violations attributed to the Malian defense and security forces and particularly their impunity are a major concern,” Tine said.
“Furthermore, in addition to the violations in my report, I continue to receive allegations regarding violations of human rights attributed to the army, and at times also foreign military personnel.”
That is a reference to alleged crimes committed by the Wagner Group, a Russian state-funded private military company that has been in Mali since 2022.
A report published Thursday by the international rights group Human Rights Watch (HRW), says Wagner fighters have helped the Malian army carry out drone strikes in counterinsurgency operations in Mali’s central and northern regions since December, and of killing and summarily executing dozens of civilians, including children.
Meanwhile, Mamoudou Kassogue, Mali’s minister of justice and human rights, rejected the findings of the independent expert.
“My delegation takes note of the present report, which is essentially incriminating on the basis of unverified and overly alarming information,” he said. “I would like to highlight the progress and successes recorded to date by the Malian armed forces against terrorist and extremist groups and their allies. This reality contrasts sharply with the security situation described as worrying in the report.”
Contradicting other aspects of the report, he said that his government has been actively working to put an end to impunity, noting “the systematic opening of investigations for every serious human rights violation reported.”
Kassogue said political and institutional reforms were underway, and “the fight against gender-based violence and sexual violence committed during conflicts has been addressed in the draft penal code and the code of criminal procedure.”
While reaffirming his government’s sovereign right to pursue its human rights agenda as it saw fit, the justice minister said, “Mali will continue to support the mandate of the independent expert and encourages him to pursue an objective and constructive approach.”
For his part, Tine recommended that the International Criminal Court “extend the scope of its current investigation” to establish criminal liability for the crimes that “continue to be committed in Mali.”
Mali is a landlocked country in the Central Sahel region, with nearly half of the highly dispersed population living in extreme poverty. The country ranks at the bottom of the Human Development Index (HDI).
The situation in Mali is one of the most forgotten and most neglected humanitarian crises globally. Since 2012, conflict, insecurity, and climatic shocks - including drought and seasonal floods - have generated displacement, food insecurity, and widespread humanitarian needs throughout Mali.
Since 2022, hostilities have intensified across the country after Malian forces launched large-scale operations against Jamaa Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM), which is affiliated with al-Qaeda, and the rival Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS). Both Islamist non-state armed groups (NSAGs) have frequently carried out attacks on civilian populations.
Security incidents, attacks and kidnappings are a daily reality for millions of civilians and humanitarian workers in the field. Attacks on civilians and infrastructure and conflict between the state and non-state armed groups have led to massive population displacement.
Approximately 392,000 people are currently internally displaced in Mali. In addition, the Central Sahel state hosts more than 66,000 refugees, the majority of whom fled insecurity in bordering countries. Some 200,000 Malian refugees are hosted in neighboring states, including Mauritania, Niger, and Burkina Faso.
The plight of the people in Mali is part of a wider regional emergency in the Central Sahel, which also includes Burkina Faso and Niger. Armed conflict, deteriorating security, political instability, and widespread poverty are the main drivers of humanitarian needs in the central Sahel region.
According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the humanitarian situation in Mali continues to be marked by a complex crisis rooted in a volatile security situation, exacerbated by structural vulnerabilities, socio-economic challenges and climate change. The situation is particularly severe in conflict-affected areas to the north and center of Mali, where access constraints and forced displacement aggravate vulnerability.
Some 715,000 people across Mali are currently affected by crisis or worse levels of hunger, and 2.8 million face stress levels of food insecurity. In the course of 2024, 1.37 million people are expected to slip into acute food insecurity (crisis level or worse).
Mali witnessed another military takeover of power in May 2021. The departure of the UN peacekeeping mission in Mali (MINUSMA) was completed by December 31, 2023, and has impacted conflict dynamics and resulted in fresh hostilities. According to human rights groups, there has been a surge in attacks by non-state armed groups across Mali in recent months.
The 2024 Humanitarian Response Plan for Mali seeks over US$700 million to assist more than 4.1 million people across the Sahel country in 2024. An estimated 7.1 million people in Mali require humanitarian assistance this year; among them are 3.8 million children and 1.6 million women.
Some information for this report provided by VOA.
Further information
Full text: Mali: Army, Wagner Group Atrocities Against Civilians, Human Rights Watch (HRW), report, published March 28, 2024
https://www.hrw.org/news/2024/03/28/mali-army-wagner-group-atrocities-against-civilians
Full text: Situation of human rights in Mali. Report of the Independent Expert on the situation of human rights in Mali (A/HRC/55/79), UN Human Rights Council, Fifty-fifth session, submitted March 28, 2024
https://undocs.org/en/A/HRC/55/79