Warring parties in Mali committing serious rights abuses, HRW report finds

Warring parties in Mali are committing serious rights abuses, according to a new report from Human Rights Watch (HRW).

Islamist fighters, Malian forces and government-backed foreign mercenaries have all committed serious abuses against civilians since fighting escalated in April, the NGO claims.

On April 25, al Qaeda-linked jihadists looking to overthrow the military junta joined forces with Tuareg fighters of the Azawad Liberation Front, killing Defense Minister Sadio Camara and seizing the northern town of Kidal.

The Malian army and Russian Africa Corps fighters have responded with apparent reprisals against Fulani communities and two apparent airstrikes killing civilians, HRW says.

The JNIM militants have imposed a blockade on the country’s capital, Bamako. In May, they burned more than 40 civilian vehicles trying to enter the city and publicly executed a man in Tonka, near Timbuktu.

“Longstanding impunity continues to fuel the cycle of abuses against civilians in Mali,” HRW’s senior Sahel researcher says, and called on the United Nations and African Union to support independent investigations into the abuses.