Mali army opens an investigation into deaths of civilians blamed on soldiers

BAMAKO, Mali — Mali's army said it's investigating soldiers who were accused by separatist Tuareg rebels of killing at least 24 civilians earlier this week, in a rare probe of human rights abuses since the military took power in 2020.

The Front for the Liberation of Azawad, the Tuareg independence movement in the north of the country, accused soldiers and Russian mercenaries from the Wagner group of intercepting two civilian transport vehicles bound for Algeria from Gao on Monday, and “coldly executing” at least 24 people among the passengers.

The general staff of the Malian armed forces, without referring to the killings, on Wednesday denounced “intoxicating campaigns” against the army. On Friday, the authorities announced the opening of an investigation into the civilian deaths.

Analysts say it's unlikely the investigation would fault the troops or the Russian mercenaries.

“The objective of the investigations is going to be more about countering the allegations against (the army) and Wagner, rather than trying to find any wrongdoing by the latter. The conclusion of the investigation is likely to say that those allegations are false,” said Rida Lyammouri, senior fellow at Policy Center for the New South, a Moroccan think tank.

Mali has been in a crisis for more than a decade. In 2020, a military group, riding on popular discontent over attacks by armed jihadi groups, seized power in a coup that toppled the democratically elected president.