A report by Amnesty International has found that members of Mali’s Armed Forces and Russia’s Wagner Group committed war crimes, including the killing and torture of civilians, during joint military operations between 2023 and 2025.
The report documented the unlawful killing of at least 34 civilians in seven incidents across the Ségou, Mopti and Timbuktu regions between June 2023 and December 2025. According to Amnesty International, none of the victims were directly participating in hostilities at the time of their deaths, with some killed while attempting to flee or after being arrested.
The findings also detail other serious violations of international humanitarian and human rights law, including torture, enforced disappearances, and the pillaging and destruction of civilian property.
The report comes after the Wagner Group ended its operations in Mali in June 2025, with the Russia-linked Africa Corps subsequently taking over its role in the country. Amnesty said around 1,000 Wagner personnel had been deployed to Mali from late 2021 until June 2025.
Accordng to Amnesty International, the report was based on research conducted between 2025 and 2026 in ten localities in Mauritania’s Hodh ech-Chargui region, where 290,000 Malian refugees were registered by UNHCR as of July 31, 2026. The organisation interviewed 119 refugees from Mali’s Ségou, Timbuktu and Mopti regions.
The rights group said it shared its findings with the Malian authorities on August 3, 2026, but had not received a response at the time of publication.
Amnesty International’s Regional Director for West and Central Africa, Marceau Sivieude, has called on the Malian authorities to launch impartial and effective investigations into the alleged crimes and ensure that those responsible are prosecuted in fair trials without recourse to the death penalty.
“Our conclusions paint a harrowing picture of the lives of civilians trapped in the conflict, paying the ultimate price while impunity remains rampant. The Malian authorities cannot dismiss these serious allegations without opening impartial and effective investigations into the alleged crimes,” Sivieude said.
The report documented four people being killed in the small hamlet of Tin Adanda in the Timbuktu region on February 12, 2025, during a joint patrol involving Malian Armed Forces and Wagner personnel.
It also documented two drone strikes carried out by Mali’s Armed Forces, one targeting a market in Ejdeir on March 16, 2025, and another targeting a family home in Tangata in November 2025. The two strikes killed at least 23 people, including at least five children, according to Amnesty.
Amnesty said it found no evidence of armed-group members or military objectives at either strike site. In the case of Ejdeir, the Malian military said it had targeted “terrorist gatherings” at a transit camp 109 kilometres northwest of Léré and killed “11 terrorists”. Amnesty said the location and other details provided by the military corresponded with the Ejdeir drone strike.
The report further found that most of the alleged crimes were committed by Wagner personnel in the presence of members of Mali’s Armed Forces. In some cases, Malian soldiers reportedly served as interpreters, stood by without intervening or threatened detainees.
The alleged torture included suspending victims by their arms from metal bars, simulated drowning, beatings with iron bars and sticks, and electric shocks. Amnesty also said detainees were not brought before a judge and were denied access to lawyers and their families during detention periods ranging from one day to four months.
The report indicated that the vast majority of victims were members of pastoralist communities, including Fulani, Arabs and Tuaregs, who were suspected of colluding with non-state armed groups based on their ethnic background and their presence in areas where such groups were active.
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