New information links the Wagner group to murders in Mali and the Central African Republic

May 3 reported Human Rights Watch that there is "convincing evidence" that Russian paramilitary forces are committing serious rights violations and killing civilians in the Central African Republic. The next day, internal documents from Mali's military showed that the Wagner group had participated in ”Mixed assignments" in the country. The group, which is a privately owned military company with mercenaries and a base in Russia, is linked to massacres in which several hundred civilians have died in Mali. At the same time, attention is drawn to the Wagner group's involvement in the war in Ukraine, where they are accused of murder civilians.

Hundreds of civilians killed in Mali

Recent events raise suspicions about how the Wagner Group's presence is undermining security on the African continent, especially in Mali and the Central African Republic. The Wagner group arrived in Mali last year, after concluding an agreement with the new military authorities.

Between January and mid-April this year, 456 civilians died in nine different incidents in Mali where Malian forces and Wagner were involved, according to data compiled by the NGO Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED).

Western officials have so far largely avoided naming the perpetrators of the killings, but witnesses, community leaders, diplomats and local analysts blame many of the deaths on combat soldiers deployed by just Wagner groups.

Locals positive to Russia

Despite reports of rights violations and suspicions of involvement in brutal deaths, parts of the local population in Mali are positive about Russia and the Wagner group, interviews show that Sveriges Radio completed in January 2022.

- Hope that Russia will succeed with what the West has failed in Mali, we hear in several interviews with the local population. How widespread the support is, it is difficult to say but it is clear that when Swedish Radio's reporter talks to people in different parts of the country, that people are more positive to the Russians in the capital Bamako than in the north where people live closer to extremist violence and where the west and Minusma seems to have been appreciated by the population, says a reporter Swedens radio.

Involved in the conflict in the Central African Republic

Since 2013, there has been a civil war in the Central African Republic. The state has on several occasions been close to collapse, but the situation has improved somewhat in recent years. This changed abruptly just over a year ago when fighting suddenly resumed when the rebels launched an offensive to overthrow President Faustin Archange Touadera.

After the President of the Central African Republic asked Moscow for help, hundreds of Russian paramilitary forces helped drive back the rebels, who still have influence over large parts of the country. The private military contractors are often described as belonging to the Wagner group.

- Forces in the Central African Republic, which witnesses identified as Russian, appear to have executed, tortured and beaten civilians since 2019, wrote Human Rights Watch on May 3.

Wagner has previously been accused of war crimes and human rights violations in the Central African Republic, while since 2018 they have taken over and now control several mineral resources.

Several actors such as the UN, NGOs and the country's former colonial power France have accused both the army and the rebels of committing crimes against civilians in the Central African Republic. The future must determine what effects it will have on development in the country.  

Is there something in the text that is not correct? Contact us at opinion@fuf.se