When Africa Corps officially began operations in Mali in June 2025, few people held out hope that it would help alleviate the suffering of civilians in Mali, caused on the one hand by armed groups in Azawad and members from the Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (GSIM), but also by the army and its auxiliaries from the Russian private military company known as Wagner.
Troops from Africa Corps, under the direct control of the Kremlin, had already begun deploying in the country as early as January 2025 and were gradually taking over Wagner’s role in support of the army’s military operations. Joint patrols by the army and Wagner between 2023 and 2025 were marred by serious violations which we recently detailed again in a
report
, some of which we believe amount to war crimes.
READ OUR REPORT: “No One is Spared” War Crimes Committed by the Malian Army and Foreign Allied Forces along the Mauritanian Border
In particular, we document seven incidents in which 34 people were deliberately killed during these patrols. The victims – all civilians, according to the testimonies collected – were shot, had their throats slit, and were burned; some were even mutilated after death. Many of them were shot in cold blood while they were herding their livestock or after being apprehended.
Accounts of widespread torture
Deadly drone attacks in Ejdeir (without warning and on a market day, 16 dead) and Tangata (at night on a house, the day after a wedding, seven dead), in March and November 2025, also caused deaths and destruction. Both strikes were carried out without any apparent evidence of the presence of armed combatants or military targets at either location. If this was the case, these acts would constitute direct attacks against civilians and private property and should be investigated as possible war crimes.
Torture and ill-treatment were also commonplace during these operations. The same was true in the military camps at Léré and Nampala, where detainees
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