Mali 's armed forces and the allied Russia-backed Wagner Group have committed dozens of summary executions and enforced disappearances of ethnic Fulani men since January 2025, Human Rights Watch said today.
The Malian army and the Wagner Group, which have carried out joint operations against Islamist armed groups over the past 3 years, appear to have executed at least 12 Fulani men and forcibly disappeared at least 81 others since January, in the context of counterinsurgency operations across several regions of the country against the Al-Qaeda-linked Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (Jama'at Nusrat al-Islam wa al-Muslimeen, JNIM). Witnesses said Malian soldiers and Wagner Group fighters carried out abuses against people belonging to the Fulani ethnic group, whom they accuse of collaborating with the JNIM.
"Mali's military junta is ultimately responsible for the summary killings and enforced disappearances by the army and allied Wagner Group fighters," said Ilaria Allegrozzi, senior Sahel researcher at Human Rights Watch. "The junta needs to end the abuses, make the whereabouts of those detained known, investigate and hold those responsible to account."
The African Union (AU) should press Mali's military junta to investigate these serious allegations, fairly prosecute those responsible, and provide redress for victims' families, Human Rights Watch said.
Human Rights Watch interviewed 29 people with knowledge of the incidents by phone between February and May 2025, including 16 witnesses and 7 community leaders, activists, journalists, and international organization representatives. On June 10, Human Rights Watch wrote to Mali's justice and defense ministers with its findings and questions but has received no replies.
Human Rights Watch also received credible reports, corroborated by the United Nations, that the army and Wagner fighters executed as many as 65 Fulani herders and cattle traders from Sebabougou village, Kayes region, in April after rounding them up and taking them toward an army camp.
Islamist armed groups, which have been implicated in numerous grave abuses, have long concentrated their recruitment efforts on the Fulani community. Successive Malian governments have conflated the Fulani community with Islamist fighters, putting them at grave risk.
On March 30, the Malian military and Wagner fighters entered Belidanédji, Ségou region, and summarily executed at least six Fulani civilians who were fleeing or hiding, witnesses said. "They shot my friend in the chest in front of me," said a 47-year-old man. "When the soldiers left, we recovered five bodies and evacuated an injured man, but he later died in the hospital."
Malian forces and Wagner fighters carried out an operation in Kourma village, Ségou region, on March 19. A 50-year-old villager said: "They [soldiers] beat them [villagers] with their rifle butts before tossing them into a pickup truck." He said they detained at least 12 Fulani men. The men's relatives searched for them in various detention facilities, but the authorities have provided no information about their whereabouts.
Human Rights Watch has documented widespread abuses by the Malian army and the Wagner Group during counterinsurgency operations across Mali since 2021. On June 6, the Wagner Group announced that it was withdrawing from Mali after having "accomplished" its mission. Diplomatic and security sources told the media that Wagner fighters would be replaced by the so-called Africa Corps, a paramilitary group under the direct control of the Russian government that was created after the Wagner Group founder, Yevgeny Prigozhin, died in 2023.
The announced reframing of the Russian presence in Mali coincided with a string of major attacks by Islamist armed groups and Tuareg separatist groups in June that killed scores of Malian soldiers and some Africa Corps fighters.
The AU should ramp up its engagement in Mali to help protect civilians from abuses by all the warring parties, including by assisting in investigations of abuses and pressing for fair prosecutions. This is particularly urgent following Mali's withdrawal from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) regional bloc in January, which deprives victims of abuses of an avenue for redress in the West African regional court. A UN peacekeeping mission withdrew in 2023 at the request of Mali's military junta, increasing concerns about protecting civilians and monitoring abuses.
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 murder, cruel treatment, and torture of anyone in custody. Individuals who commit serious violations of the laws of war with criminal intent or are responsible as a matter of command responsibility may be prosecuted for war crimes.
The incommunicado detentions documented amount to enforced disappearances, which violate the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, to which Mali is a party.
Mali is also a party to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, which has opened an investigation into alleged war crimes committed in Mali since 2012.
"Senior Malian and Russian officials should recognize that they can be held responsible for the crimes committed by their soldiers and fighters," Allegrozzi said. "Whether the African Union finally presses the Malian authorities to investigate and prosecute abuses, or the International Criminal Court steps in, those linked to current atrocities may face future trials."
For detailed findings, please see below.
Conflict in Mali and Russian Involvement
Since 2012, successive Malian governments have fought Islamist armed groups including the JNIM and the Islamic State in the Sahel Province (ISSP). The hostilities have resulted in the deaths of thousands of civilians and forcibly displaced 350,000 more.
Mali's military junta, which took power in a 2021 coup, has relied on the support of the Russia-backed Wagner Group for counterinsurgency operations.
Malian authorities have never publicly acknowledged the group's presence. In December 2021, the junta said that Russian military instructors were in Mali as part of a bilateral agreement with Russia, but denied the presence of Wagner fighters. However, Human Rights Watch and others have reported on Wagner Group activities and abuses in Mali.
In June 2023, Mali's foreign minister, in response to a Human Rights Watch report, again denied the presence of any foreign armed group and did not mention the Wagner Group. However, Russian authorities have acknowledged the group's presence. In May 2023, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told the media that the Wagner Group "provides security services" to the Malian government and later said they worked as "instructors."
Army Abuses in Douentza Region
Killings and Burning of Homes, Kobou, January 23
On January 23, at about 9 a.m., Malian army forces entered Kobou, a village in a JNIM-controlled area, in six pickup trucks, apparently searching for Islamist fighters. Several witnesses said that during the operation, soldiers killed a 46-year-old Fulani man who was attempting to flee, and summarily executed two others, ages 65 and 75. The bodies of the older men were found blindfolded with their hands tied behind their backs. The soldiers also burned at least 30 homes, the witnesses said.
Most of the villagers fled when the soldiers arrived. "We Fulani all fled because we know that the soldiers will go after us because they see us as jihadists," said a 28-year-old man. "If you don't flee, the jihadists will kill you because they will say that you helped the soldiers. No one spares us."
A Fulani herder, 35, who lost his 65-year-old father in the attack, said:
There was a stampede. I fled, but my father couldn't run because he was too old and weak. He stayed in the house and when the military arrived, they killed him there. When I returned to the village at around 4 p.m., I found his body in the house, blindfolded with his turban and his hands tied. They shot him in the back of the head.
A 29-year-old man who lost his brother, 46, in the attack, said:
When I saw the soldiers coming, I drove off with my old mother on my motorbike and we hid in the bush.… We heard several gunshots.… When we returned, we found that three people had been killed, including my brother. I found his body with three bullets in the back some 300 meters from the mosque. I also found the body of a 75-year-old man, blindfolded, and shot in the head, outside the mosque. And then I saw the body of another man who was killed in his home.
Human Rights Watch analyzed satellite images showing marks from burned structures appearing throughout the village on January 23 and 24.
"When we returned to Kobou, at about 4 p.m., there was still smoke and some fire," the 28-year-old man said. "We put out the last flames and recovered the bodies of the three men killed to bury them in a mass grave at the village cemetery."
Army Abuses in Timbuktu Region
Abductions and Killings in Farana, March 26
On March 26, the Malian army arrested, beat, and most likely killed four Fulani men at a riverbank in Farana village, an area where the JNIM operates and attacks security forces. Witnesses said they saw soldiers going toward the riverbank and arrest the men and later found evidence of an attack.
"I was resting by the riverside with my brother and three other men when, about midday, soldiers arrived on pickup trucks and armored vehicles," said a 29-year-old man. He fled but said that when he returned to the river four hours later, he found no bodies but "a pool of blood" and human remains. He said four ethnic Bozo fishermen who witnessed the beatings told him:
The soldiers tortured them [the four men] until they couldn't breathe and took the four bodies with them. On the spot, I found a lot of blood and pieces of a brain, an iron bar with traces of blood and human flesh stuck to it. There was so much blood that it was as if 10 cows had been slaughtered there.
Another man, 45, whose brother is among the four missing men, said that when he heard that a military convoy was coming to the village, he fled along with almost all local Fulani: "We know that if a soldier spots a Fulani, it's the end for him."
He said he hid in the nearby bush, and saw the military vehicles go toward the riverside. "They didn't enter the village, they went toward the river.… I worried because my brother was there."
When the soldiers left, the man said, he went to the riverbank. "I couldn't believe my eyes," he said. "It was like a slaughterhouse.… There was blood everywhere, human flesh stuck on tree branches, it was horrifying."
The four men remain missing. The victims' relatives said they searched for them at the nearby Soumpi army base to no avail. Human Rights Watch received a list, compiled by relatives, with the four men's names, and their ages: 24, 38, 53, and 70.
Residents and relatives believe the soldiers targeted the Fulani, accusing them of collaborating with the JNIM.
Army and Wagner Group Abuses in Kayes Region
Arrests and Killings at Sebabougou, April 12
On April 12, Malian forces and Wagner fighters arrested about 100 Fulani men in the village of Sebabougou, accusing them of collaborating with Islamist fighters. Witnesses, including security sources, said that the soldiers took the villagers to the Kwala military camp, about 30 kilometers away, where they detained and apparently executed many.
A UN report corroborated these findings, expressing "outrage at the alleged summary execution of several dozen people … as well as the enforced disappearance of others" in Sebabougou. The Malian armed forces stated on April 28 that they had conducted military operations between April 11 and 15 in several areas, including Sebabougou and Kwala, and had "neutralized … several armed fighters."
Several witnesses said they saw the military and Wagner fighters arrive in Sebabougou at about 8 a.m. in several vehicles, while a military helicopter flew overhead. At the village cattle market, they told everyone to gather outside the residence of the village chief for a meeting.
A 32-year-old Fulani man said:
People initially went voluntarily, including some Fulani, but others including me stayed at the market. But around noon, the military came back to the market forcing all Fulani to go to the meeting.… I decided to flee, as things didn't sound right to me.
A man in his seventies who attended the meeting said: "Soldiers told us: 'All those who have ties with terrorists, won't get away with it.'" He said that the soldiers then rounded up and arrested about 100 Fulani men:
At about 4 p.m., they blindfolded the Fulani with their scarves or other clothing and tied their hands behind their back. They took them toward their vehicles parked outside the village and loaded them onto two trucks, then drove off with them toward Kayes.
Relatives provided Human Rights Watch with a list containing the names of 65 Fulani men arrested in Sebabougou, ages 30 to 65, who remain missing. Villagers said they were not able to obtain information about the whereabouts of the detained men. One man, 53, whose 40-year-old cousin was detained, said: "From [the time of the arrest], we stopped having any information about our relatives."
A group of family members searched for their missing relatives until April 20 without learning of their whereabouts. On April 21 and 22, they found at least 43 bodies on the outskirts of the Kwala military camp. Although they could not identify the bodies due to decomposition, they believe they belong to men arrested on April 12.
One man, 32, said:
On April 21, I went to Kwala with five other people and discovered the bodies of thirteen men about seven kilometers north of the military camp. The bodies were scattered and already rotten. The following day, we found 30 more bodies, in the same condition, about 1 kilometer from where we found the 13 others. It was horrifying.
Credible sources told Human Rights Watch that at least 25 among those detained were transferred from the Kwala military camp to Bamako central prison, about a week after their arrest. The sources said the 25 were presented before a judge and released in mid-July without charges.
Army and Wagner Abuses in Ségou Region
Abductions and Enforced Disappearances at Kourma, March 19
On March 19, the Malian military and Wagner fighters rounded up 12 Fulani men at the cattle market in Kourma, a village in a JNIM-controlled area. Relatives provided Human Rights Watch with a list of the names of the men, ages 22 to 62. The men remain missing.
Witnesses said that soldiers and Wagner fighters arrived in the village around 8 a.m., surrounded the cattle market, and started to round up Fulani men. They accused the men of collaborating with the JNIM and severely beat them before driving off with them in a pickup truck toward the town of Sokolo, about 15 kilometers away, witnesses said.
A Fulani man, 50, described the armed men as "Malian and white soldiers" in at least six pickup trucks and seven motorcycles. He said he hid in a shop owned by an ethnic Bambara, while his son, 22, was arrested:
The soldiers, five Malians and two Russians, rounded up all twelve people near the market gate.… They slapped them, kicked them with their boots and hit them with the butts of their guns and called them "terrorists." They tore their clothes to blindfold them, tied their hands and feet and then … threw them one by one into a pickup truck like animals.
Another Fulani man, 66, whose 25-year-old son was arrested, said that at about 11 a.m., he saw a military pickup truck with about 12 "blindfolded" and "injured" people leaving the market toward Sokolo.
The following day, relatives of those arrested said that they reported the incident to gendarmes at the Sokolo military base. A 41-year-old woman, whose son was arrested, said:
I found two gendarmes. They refused to allow me access to the camp but listened to me. I explained what had happened in Kourma.… They replied that the people arrested in Kourma were doing well, and that I shouldn't worry. I asked for proof of that. They told me to sit and wait. I sat on a chair for several hours. They later returned to tell me that they hadn't received any news and that I had to leave.
Killings, Torture, and Incommunicado Detentions at Belidanédji and Molodo, March 30
On March 30 at about 8 a.m., two JNIM fighters, one of whom was armed, entered Belidanédji, a village in a JNIM-controlled area, and beat at least twenty women for not wearing the veil, according to witnesses.
"They [fighters] whipped them, slapped them, then told them to cover themselves," a 45-year-old man said. "They said we refused to submit to Sharia [Islamic law]. We, the men, were powerless, afraid - for us it was a humiliation."
Witnesses said that one hour later, Malian forces and Wagner fighters entered the village in three pickup trucks and at least one armored vehicle. The soldiers reportedly clashed with the JNIM fighters and killed one of them, and then summarily executed six Fulani civilians, ages 35 to 63.
"During the fighting, many of us fled, some hid in the rice fields, others jumped into the river," said a 47-year-old man. "The soldiers then took over the village … [and] started killing people. They didn't try to distinguish between us - they considered all of us to be jihadists."
A 49-year-old man who lost his brother in the attack said he fled Belidanédji when one of the JNIM fighters fired the first shot, but returned to the village at about midday:
I found my brother still alive but badly injured in his rice field. He was holding his hand over the bullet wound in his chest. His hand was covered in blood. Some helped me bandage his wound and evacuate him to Diabaly hospital on my motorcycle. But he died two days later.
The 47-year-old man said he hid in a rice field, where he witnessed a summary execution and collected the dead:
My 58-year-old friend was also hiding there, the military shot him dead. It happened less than 100 meters from where I was. The soldiers saw him, they asked him to stand up and raise his hands and then shot him in the chest.… When the soldiers left, we recovered five [civilian] bodies and helped one man who was seriously wounded.… We buried two men in the village cemetery the same day. The wounded man died after he was evacuated to the hospital and the three others were buried by their relatives in nearby hamlets.
Witnesses said the soldiers and Wagner fighters who entered the village were part of a larger convoy, and that more soldiers and Wagner fighters remained outside Belidanédji. They said that the soldiers deployed outside the village arrested two Fulani men, ages 48 and 50, tortured them by severe beatings, and took them to Molodo military base, about 76 kilometers away, where they were held incommunicado in a container for two weeks.
Human Rights Watch also received credible information that at least 20 people were summarily executed at the base, including at least 7 captured Islamist fighters, but this information could not be confirmed.
Arrests and Killings at Sikere, May 14
In the early morning of May 14, Malian forces, accompanied by Wagner fighters and Dozo militia members, who are predominantly ethnic Bambara, surrounded Sikere, a village in a JNIM-controlled area and populated by Bambara, Rimaïbé-a Fulani subgroup-, and Fulani people. Witnesses said the soldiers and fighters went door-to-door and rounded up all Rimaïbé and Fulani men and took them to a location near the village mosque. They accused them of collaborating with the JNIM and shot dead four men.
A 48-year-old man said he was asleep when a Malian soldier and two Dozo militiamen broke into his home, pointed guns at his head, and ordered him to walk to the mosque. He said:
When I arrived near the mosque, I found many other men. They blindfolded us with our scarves.… Then they began to accuse us. They said we had undergone training to become jihadists … [and] that our relatives are with the jihadists.
A 45-year-old man who was detained said:
They accused us of being jihadists and participating in attacks against the security forces. Our village chief told them they had no concrete evidence of that since they had not found any weapons in the village. So, a soldier threatened us: "If ever the jihadists come to attack Ngonado [a Bambara village near Sikere] in retaliation for our presence here today, then we will come back to exterminate you all!"
After about two hours in the mosque, the soldiers released all the Rimaïbé men and summarily executed four Fulani men. "We recovered their bodies; they had all been shot in the head," the 45-year-old man said. "We buried them in a mass grave in the village cemetery."
Villagers provided Human Rights Watch with a list of those executed. Two were 37, one 35, and one 60.
Witnesses and residents believe the attack in Sikere was in retaliation against the local population accused of supporting the JNIM. They said that in the weeks before the attack, the JNIM had attacked security forces, Dozo militiamen, and Wagner fighters in the area.
