Bamako — A decisive shift is underway in how Mali’s conflict is being documented and judged. A new investigation by Amnesty International, released on 28 September 2026, accuses members of the Malian Armed Forces (FAMa), operating alongside foreign fighters from the Wagner group, of committing war crimes against civilians between 2023 and 2025. The findings mark a breakthrough moment in the long struggle to hold perpetrators accountable.
The evidence behind the breakthrough
Titled “No one is spared,” the report draws heavily on research conducted in Mauritania with Malian refugees. Amnesty International says it gathered testimony from 119 people originating from the Ségou, Mopti and Tombouctou regions, cross-checked those accounts against other sources and analysed information relating to military operations.
The organisation’s conclusions are damning: at least 34 civilians were reportedly killed in seven Malian localities between June 2023 and December 2025 during operations attributed to Malian forces and their Wagner allies. Amnesty also cites cases of torture, forced disappearance, looting and the destruction of civilian property.
Civilians caught in the crossfire of military operations
The documented incidents are concentrated in Mali’s central and northern regions, particularly Ségou, Mopti and Tombouctou — areas severely affected by insecurity and armed group activity.
According to Amnesty International, some victims were killed as they tried to flee or after being arrested. The organisation also reports cases in which people were allegedly beheaded or burned. In Tin Adanda, in the Tombouctou region, four people were reportedly killed during a joint patrol in February 2025.
One of the report’s central concerns is the targeting of pastoral populations, notably Fulani, Arab and Tuareg communities. Amnesty believes many victims belonged to these groups, accused or suspected of links to armed groups because of their origin or their presence in areas controlled or frequented by insurgents.
The organisation warns against what it sees as a dangerous generalisation: equating an entire community with armed groups could expose civilian populations to collective reprisals.
Drone strikes at the heart of the allegations
The report also examines two drone strikes carried out in 2025 by Malian forces in the Tombouctou region. Amnesty says they killed at least 23 people, including at least five children.
One of the most documented cases concerns the Ejdeir market, struck on 16 March 2025. According to Amnesty, 16 people were killed and seven others wounded. The organisation says it found no evidence establishing the presence of fighters or military objectives at the market at the time of the strike.
Malian authorities had said they targeted “meetings of terrorists.” Amnesty believes the geographic information provided by the authorities corresponds to the location struck at Ejdeir. In the absence of a verified military target, the organisation considers such an attack could amount to a direct attack on civilians and should be investigated as a possible war crime.
The issue is especially sensitive in a conflict where Malian authorities present military operations as necessary to fight jihadist groups and other armed organisations. Amnesty’s report does not challenge, in principle, the authorities’ right to combat armed groups. It insists, however, on the obligation to respect international humanitarian law and protect civilian populations.
Torture allegations in military bases
Another particularly grave section of the report concerns accusations of torture and ill-treatment of detainees.
Amnesty International says it interviewed 15 men who claimed to have suffered torture during joint patrols or in military bases, notably in Léré and Nampala. The organisation says their accounts were corroborated by witnesses who said they had observed torture involving around thirty people.
The methods described are especially violent: suspending detainees by their arms, simulated drowning, beatings with metal bars or sticks, and electric shocks. According to Amnesty, five people died in military bases as a result of torture or poor detention conditions.
The report states that the acts were mainly committed by Wagner members, sometimes in the presence of Malian soldiers. Some individuals were reportedly held for days or months without being brought before a court, without access to legal assistance and without being able to contact their families.
Wagner departs, Africa Corps remains
The report comes as Russia’s presence in Mali has evolved. The Wagner group, present in the country since late 2021, was replaced in June 2025 by Africa Corps, a structure under the control of the Russian Ministry of Defence.
Amnesty International is calling on Malian authorities to publicly clarify their relationship with Africa Corps and the oversight mechanisms applicable to its members. For the organisation, a change in structure must not translate into an absence of accountability when violations of international law are committed.
This development unfolds against a backdrop of profound transformation in Mali’s security policy. Since the 2020 coup, the authorities have gradually strengthened military cooperation with Russia while reducing dependence on Western partners.
A crisis that goes beyond government forces
Amnesty International nonetheless stresses that the documented abuses cannot be attributed to a single side. In recent years, armed groups active in Mali have also been accused of serious violations of international humanitarian law.
The organisation recalls that armed groups have committed unlawful killings, abductions and other abuses against civilian populations. This nuance matters in a complex conflict involving multiple armed actors, where civilians are often caught between different forces.
The humanitarian situation remains worrying. According to data presented by Amnesty in its Mali assessment, more than 2,036 schools were closed because of insecurity, depriving hundreds of thousands of children of access to education.
The question of impunity
Beyond the accusations themselves, the report raises a central question: that of justice.
Amnesty International says it submitted its findings to Malian authorities on 3 August 2026 and had received no response at the time of publication. The organisation is calling on Bamako to open “effective and impartial” investigations into the alleged crimes and to prosecute those responsible, where evidence warrants, before courts that respect fair-trial guarantees.
The judicial question takes on an added dimension since Mali announced in June 2026 its withdrawal from the Rome Statute, the founding treaty of the International Criminal Court. According to Amnesty, that withdrawal does not end proceedings already covered by ICC jurisdiction: the court would retain jurisdiction over crimes within its mandate committed during the legally applicable period.
In this context, Amnesty International’s report appears less as a simple inventory of abuses than as a warning about the risk of entrenched impunity — and a turning point in the push for accountability.
For civilian populations in Ségou, Mopti and Tombouctou, the challenge remains immediate: surviving a conflict in which the distinction between combatants and civilians is often fragile. For Malian authorities, the accusations now constitute another case to answer — for the protection of populations but also for the credibility of institutions responsible for delivering justice.
Behind the statistics — 34 documented deaths, dozens of tortured detainees and dozens of other presumed victims — lies a reality harder to measure: displaced families, villages emptied of their inhabitants and a population living between the threat of armed groups and the operations of security forces.
The report thus recalls a fundamental requirement of international law: fighting armed groups does not exempt any party to the conflict from protecting civilians. In Mali, the battle against insecurity is therefore also being fought on another front — that of justice, accountability and the protection of populations.