HRW documents both Malian army drone strike on livestock market and insurgents' execution of surrendering soldiers

MALI

International rights group Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a report datelined Nairobi, Kenya, on Oct. 19 (local time) that counterinsurgency operations conducted since July this year in central and northern Mali by the Malian army and the Russian government-controlled "Africa Corps" have killed or wounded dozens of civilians. HRW said in the same report that fighters of the Islamist armed group Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM) and the separatist group Azawad Liberation Front (FLA) also tortured and executed captured Malian soldiers. The report also included Amnesty International's documentation that at least 19 soldiers who surrendered after a July 18 ambush were executed. The report's subtitle is "African Union Should Act to Prevent Further Atrocities."

HRW combines laws-of-war violations by both government forces and insurgents in one report

HRW said the Malian army and allied forces responded to intensifying attacks by Islamist and separatist armed groups with "abusive counterinsurgency operations." The report described the Africa Corps as the former Wagner Group. HRW said the Malian army and the Africa Corps violated international humanitarian law by killing and wounding numerous civilians during attacks and in custody, and that Islamist and separatist fighters also violated the laws of war, including by torturing and executing captured Malian soldiers.

HRW said it interviewed 30 people remotely between July 30 and Sept. 20. Those interviewed included 16 witnesses to abuses, as well as human rights activists, community leaders, journalists and one Malian soldier. HRW said it geolocated two videos posted online immediately after drone attacks and analyzed 12 photographs of drone debris and satellite imagery taken on Aug. 6. HRW said it sent a letter with its findings and questions to Mali's defense minister on Aug. 5 but received no response.

Ilaria Allegrozzi, senior Sahel researcher at HRW, said, "The Malian military, armed groups, and insurgent forces are committing grave laws-of-war violations while international organizations and governments largely stand by."

Drone bomb dropped on Bandiagara livestock market kills six, wounds more than 20

The incident HRW covered in the most detail was an airstrike on the morning of Aug. 19 on a livestock market in the village of Tombonkore in the Kilimpo area of Bandiagara region. HRW said a drone apparently belonging to the Malian army dropped bombs on civilians gathered at the market, killing six men and wounding at least 20. The six people on a list of the dead that witnesses gave HRW ranged in age from 21 to 54. Livestock, market stalls and motorcycles were also damaged.

A 48-year-old livestock trader who was at the scene told HRW, "It [the drone] was gray and slowly flew above us from east to west and back for about 30 minutes before it bombed us." The trader said five people died at the scene and one died at the hospital in Sévaré, and that the bodies were buried in the village cemetery at around 3 p.m. According to witness accounts, 14 seriously injured people were taken to hospitals in Bandiagara and Sévaré, while some of the lightly injured were treated in the village rather than going to the hospital for fear of reprisals by the Malian army.

HRW interviewed a 24-year-old man injured in the airstrike at the hospital in Sévaré a few hours before he underwent surgery to amputate his right leg. The man said that the day after the strike his foot looked like an elephant's leg. A 29-year-old butcher said it became quiet only after the strikes had gone on in this way for about an hour and 30 minutes. He was treated for a broken leg at the hospital in Sévaré. Five witnesses said that although JNIM controls the area, there were no JNIM fighters at the market or in the village at the time of the strike. The 24-year-old injured man said JNIM fighters buy fuel, pasta, spices and grain at the market, especially on Fridays.

According to an Aug. 20 statement by the Malian army chief of staff cited by HRW, the Malian army and partner forces the previous day, after prolonged surveillance, struck a "terrorist hideout" in the Kilimpo area, with about 20 "terrorists" "neutralized" and military equipment destroyed. HRW was unable to identify the type of drone and munitions used. However, HRW said the only forces in Mali known to possess large drones such as the one witnesses described are the Malian army and the Africa Corps.

Five girls aged 10 to 13 shot dead while harvesting rice in Niono paddy field

According to HRW, at around 3 p.m. on July 12, Malian soldiers shot dead five girls aged 10 to 13 who were harvesting rice in a paddy field about 3 km from the town of Niono in Ségou region. The soldiers took the bodies to the morgue at Niono hospital and then apologized to the families. The soldiers explained that they had come under attack about 9 km away at around noon that day and, seeing heads popping up in the paddy field, mistook them for attackers and opened fire.

A 46-year-old Fulani father who lost three daughters told HRW, "That's where I found my three children lying, their bodies riddled with bullets." A 59-year-old Dogon father who lost two daughters said an army captain came to his home in person to apologize. He said, "their intention was never to kill children." HRW concluded that the soldiers did not take all necessary measures to verify whether their targets were combatants. HRW said that as of mid-September the government had not opened an investigation into the incident or offered compensation to the families.

Kidal health center partly destroyed by "Shahed-type" drone; three Fulani men killed in Djenné

At around 4 a.m. on July 29, a health center in the village of Talahandak in Kidal region, near the Algerian border, was partly destroyed by what appeared to be a loitering munition. The area is controlled by JNIM and the FLA. A local health worker told HRW, "Under no circumstances was this facility used by armed groups." Video from the scene showed damage to treatment rooms for men and women, a laboratory, a pharmacy and a consultation and ultrasound room. HRW said the debris was consistent with a Shahed-type delta-wing drone. HRW added that it had previously confirmed that a drone attack in the same village on July 17 killed one civilian.

In Djenné in central Mopti region, HRW said the "Dozo" militia killed three Fulani men. At around noon on July 27, a 50-year-old man and a 43-year-old man were shot dead minutes apart near the Great Mosque. At around 10 a.m. the next day, four Dozos carrying Kalashnikov rifles took a 42-year-old man from his home in the Sankore neighborhood, and he was found dead about 2 km away with three gunshot wounds to the head and chest. Residents said there were no JNIM fighters at the scene and that the victims were targeted because they were Fulani.

JNIM acknowledges killing of captives but denies ordering it

On July 18, near the village of Tabrichat in Gao region, JNIM and FLA fighters ambushed a convoy of the Malian army and the Africa Corps traveling from Anefis to Gao. A surviving soldier said the attack began at around 7 a.m. According to HRW, Amnesty International documented that armed men identified as JNIM and FLA fighters beat and mistreated captured soldiers and executed at least 19 of them. Online videos reviewed by HRW showed soldiers with their hands raised or clasped behind their heads being beaten and shot, and at least two of the videos showed a white flag with black writing characteristic of JNIM. HRW said it could not determine whether JNIM or the FLA carried out the executions.

A Malian soldier interviewed by HRW said, "Once [we made it to] Gao, over 50 military personnel were missing. At least 19 were executed – we saw them in the videos." The soldier said there was a serious lack of coordination among the Africa Corps, the Anefis unit and some units that came from Aguelhok. A 32-year-old woman who recognized her husband, a noncommissioned officer stationed in Anefis, in a video said she went to the military base in Gao, but a soldier told her not to pay attention to "fake videos" produced by JNIM and FLA propaganda outlets and to go home and wait for an official announcement. The Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said in a July 23 statement, "Killing, torturing or abusing individuals hors de combat is a war crime," and called for a thorough and independent investigation. HRW said Malian prosecutors reportedly announced on Aug. 1 the opening of an investigation into the summary executions at Tabrichat, but as of mid-September the military had not contacted the families.

JNIM's Sharia committee said in a response sent to HRW on Sept. 30, "although the killing of captives in Tabrichat … did in fact take place, we did not give the order for it." In the same response, JNIM argued that Islam gives Muslim leaders four options regarding captives — release, ransom, enslavement and execution — and claimed that the fighters' actions did not violate Sharia to a degree warranting punishment. FLA spokesman Mohamed Elmaouloud Ramadane acknowledged the fighting in a response on Sept. 20 but said, "the FLA categorically rejects any allegation that its forces carried out the execution."