Mali – CounterVortex

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Malian forces, Wagner Group accused of war crimes

Amnesty International condemned the Malian Armed Forces (FAMa) and its partners from the Russian private military company Wagner Group for perpetration of war crimes, including the murder and torture of civilians. Summary executions and massacres appear to have targeted ethnic Fulani men, in what is described as a campaign of ethnic cleansing. A landmark human rights case has been filed before the African Court on Human & Peoples' Rights (ACtHPR) by TRIAL International, the Pan African Lawyers Union (PALU) and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) against FAMa and Wagner for their role in repeated atrocities and massacres, most famously that at Moura in March 2022. (Photo via Lansing Indstitute)

Algeria sends troops to Niger

A surprising outcome of the failed coup against Niger's military junta was the arrival, a day later, of an Algerian air detachment, including four SU-30 fighter jets. The deployment was a clear signal that Algeria is breaking from its non-interventionist stance and wants its troubled southern neighbors in the Alliance of Sahel States (AES)—Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger—to take note. Algeria was not involved in the quashing of the putsch against Gen. Abdourahamane Tchiani. That was down to the presidential guard, backed by Russia's paramilitary force, the Africa Corps. But Algeria does fear state collapse in the Sahel amid Islamist insurgencies that have their roots in its own internal violence of the 1990s. Algeria's new-found interest also coincides with the start of construction on a Trans-Saharan Gas Pipeline that will stretch from Nigeria to the Mediterranean coast. (Map: PCL)

UN mission urges Venezuela to reverse ICC withdrawal

The United Nations Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Venezuela called on the Venezuelan government to reverse its decision to withdraw from the Rome Statute, the treaty that established the International Criminal Court (ICC), warning that leaving the ICC would weaken accountability for serious human rights violations and limit victims' access to justice. (Photo: Tony Webster via Wikimedia Commons)

Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso withdraw from ICC

Amnesty International warned that the recent move by Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso to submit formal notifications of withdrawal from the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) paints a bleak future for thousands of conflict survivors, threatening their right to truth, justice and reparations. The three countries recently formed the Alliance of Sahel States (AES), a mutual defense and economic confederation that seeks to reject the political influence of Western powers. The AES countries are currently engaged in coordinated military actions to beat back surging jihadist offensives, which have resulted in massive civilian casualties across their shared borders. The Sahel war has contributed to an ongoing humanitarian crisis in the region, and resulted in multiple massacres and extrajudicial killings committed by state security forces and paramilitaries with Kremlin ties, as well as by insurgent groups. (Photo: Mali Government Information Center via Morning Star)

Mali: rising violence against civilians

Human Rights Watch criticized insurgent armed groups, the Malian armed forces and allied militias, and Russian mercenaries, which have all committed "serious abuses of human rights against civilians" amid an internal conflict that has further fueled long-standing ethnic tensions in the country. A sudden intensification of violence began this April after the al-Qaeda-affiliated Group for the Support of Islam & Muslims (Jama'at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin, or JNIM) formed a pact with Tuareg fighters of the Azawad Liberation Front (FLA), a faction with which they have had a rocky relationship, to carry out attacks across Mali. The Malian armed forces have responded with drone strikes that resulted in multiple civilian fatalities. The armed forces and militia groups are also believed to have carried out reprisals against Fulani communities, who are stigmatized as JNIM collaborators. Russian fighters from the paramilitary Africa Corps have also participated in atrocities. (Map: PCL)

Podcast: West Africa escalates toward genocide

Alarming reports that Nigeria has established "concentration camps" for the Fulani ethnic minority cast an ironic light on Nigeria's tension with the Sahel states of Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso to the north. These three regimes have broken from the Western imperial camp (to embrace the nascent Russian imperial camp)—but are likewise subjecting their Fulani minorities to persecution and massacre. With the recent shock rebel offensive in Mali, the "terrorist" stigma that attaches to the Fulani and Tuareg peoples across the imperial camps makes their position more precarious than ever. Meanwhile, prominent voices on the both the right and the (supposed) "left" are spreading propaganda about the struggle in West Africa that is alarmingly wrong, because it exclusively views the crisis through a campist lens. In Episode 327 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg tries to provide some clarity on these fast-escalating and grossly under-reported conflicts. (Photo: Az-Zallaqa via LWJ)

ICC orders reparations for Timbuktu war crime victims

The International Criminal Court (ICC) delivered an order on reparations for the victims of war crimes and crimes against humanity perpetrated by Al Hassan Ag Abdoul Aziz in Timbuktu between April 2012 and January 2013, when the Malian city was occupied by jihadist forces. Al Hassan was convicted by the ICC in 2024, and sentenced to 10 years imprisonment. He is to bear financial liability for €7,250,000 in reparations to impacted communities and individuals. (Photo: WikiMedia Commons)

Shock rebel offensive driven back in Mali

Russia's Africa Corps launched air-strikes and helicopter assaults to drive back a dramatic rebel advance on Mali's capital Bamako. Former rival insurgent groups, the jihadist Jama'at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) and the Tuareg separatist Front de Libération de l'Azawad (FLA), came together for the joint offensive against the ruling military government, with simultaneous attacks on Mopti, Gao and Kidal as well as the capital. Mali's defense minister, Lt. Gen. Sadio Camara, the key liaison between the army and Russian mercenary forces, was killed in an apparent suicide truck bombing on his residence outside Bamako. (Map: PCL)

Mali: al-Qaeda franchise in new ‘war crime’

Human Rights Watch confirmed that an al-Qaeda-linked armed group summarily executed 10 long-haul truck drivers and two teenage apprentices in southwestern Mali as part of the group's attack on a fuel convoy and deemed the acts "apparent war crimes." Mali's truck driver union staged a nationwide strike in response to the attack, demanding recovery of victims’ bodies to ensure their families can have proper burials. The group responsible for the attack was Jama'a Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin (JNIM), which describes itself as the official branch of al-Qaeda in Mali. (Map: PCL)

Sahel states launch new counterinsurgency force

At an air base in Bamako, Mali's military ruler Gen. Assimi Goita presided over a ceremony marking the launch of a unified force for three Sahel states to fight the rising tide of jihadist insurgency across their borders. The move comes after the three countries—Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso, all now ruled by military juntas—collectively withdrew from the West African regional bloc ECOWAS to form their own Alliance of Sahel States (AES). This new body has deepening ties to Russia, which has maintained paramilitary forces in the AES countries under the rubric of the Wagner Group or Africa Corps. These forces are increasingly accused of atrocities, with Malian refugees in Mauritania reporting rapes, beheadings and mutilation of civilians at the hands of Russian mercenaries. (Image: Wikipedia)

ECOWAS declares regional state of emergency

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) announced a state of emergency following a wave of coups and attempted coups that have struck several member states of the regional bloc. The declaration was made during the 55th session of the ECOWAS Security Council in Abuja, Nigeria, by the president of the bloc, Gambian diplomat Omar Touray. Since 2020, several military coups d'etat have taken place in West Africa, including Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Guinea and Guinea-Bissau. A coup attempt was launched days before the ECOWAS declaration in Benin, but was thwarted by Nigerian military intervention. A regional crisis is driven by armed insurgencies, economic hardship, and weak institutions, creating viable ground for military rule. (Map: World Sites Atlas)

Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso announce withdrawal from ICC

Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso announced that they will withdraw from the International Criminal Court (ICC), accusing the tribunal of serving "imperial" rather than African interests. The three countries, each governed by military juntas and members of the newly formed Alliance of Sahel States (AES), issued a joint declaration stating that they no longer recognize the ICC as a legitimate forum for justice, charging that it has become an "instrument of neo-colonialist repression." The decision comes amid ongoing security crisis in the Sahel region, where armed groups linked to al-Qaeda and the Islamic State are waging brutal insurgencies, carrying out attacks against civilians as well as security forces. Human rights groups have accused state security forces of committing extrajudicial killings and other serious abuses in counter-terrorism operations. (Image: Wikipedia)