Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Tuesday reported that Mali’s armed forces and allied Russian mercenaries have carried out numerous “summary executions and enforced disappearances of ethnic Fulani men.”

HRW documented that, since January, the Malian army and Wagner Group mercenaries have executed “at least a dozen Fulani men and forcibly disappeared at least 81 men” during joint operations targeting Islamist armed groups. The human rights group said that the insurgents have focused their recruitment on the Fulani community, and the Malian government has often blurred the line between Fulani civilians and Islamist fighters. This has placed the Fulani community in danger.

Ilaria Allegrozzi, senior Sahel researcher at HRW, said that high-ranking Malian and Russian officials may be held liable for crimes committed by their fighters. Allegrozzi further stated that “whether the African Union finally presses the Malian authorities to investigate and prosecute abuses, or the International Criminal Court steps in, those linked to current atrocities may face future trials.”

The parties to the Malian armed conflict are bound by international humanitarian law, which governs the acceptable conduct allowed in war. Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions of 1949 forbids murder or ill-treatment of persons who do not actively participate in an internal conflict. Grave violations of international humanitarian law may amount to war crimes. Notably, Mali is a party to the International Criminal Court (ICC). In 2013, the ICC launched an investigation into alleged war crimes committed in Mali since January 2012, when the current conflict began.

Since 2021, HRW has documented extensive abuses committed by the Malian army and the Wagner Group during counterinsurgency operations. UN experts also condemned summary executions and enforced disappearances in Mali in April. The Russian presence in Mali continues despite the Wagner Group’s withdrawal in June. The successor group—Africa Corps—is a paramilitary force controlled directly by the Russian government.

HRW urged the African Union to “ramp up its engagement” with investigations of the violence in Mali, and encourage prosecutions.