BAMAKO, Mali: Mali’s army and Russian mercenaries killed dozens of civilians during a military operation last month in northern Mali, civil organization and community members alleged Friday, amid a surge in violence after the ruling junta broke off a peace agreement with rebel groups.
The killings took place from June 20 to 29 in the Abeibara in the Kidal region, the civil society groups and residents said. The Malian military says it has no knowledge of the alleged killings, but says military operations are taking place throughout the country.
The region is a former stronghold of a rebellion by militants in the Tuareg ethnic group who are fighting the army in a conflict where civilians increasingly have become the main victims. Some of the militants have formerly been allied with Al-Qaeda.
Hamadine Driss Ag Mohamed, son of Abeibara’s village chief, told The Associated Press on Friday that Malian soldiers and fighters from the Russian mercenary group Wagner had killed 46 civilians.
“The Malian and Wagner soldiers executed old men and shepherds and stole everything they found in the camps such as money and valuable jewelry,” he said.
Mali and its neighbors Burkina Faso and Niger have long battled insurgencies by armed groups, including many allied with the Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State (Daesh).
Following military coups in all three nations in recent years, the ruling juntas have expelled French forces and have sought military help instead from Russia’s mercenary units, such as the private security company Wagner and its likely successor, Africa Corps.
In December 2023, a United Nations peacekeeping force created 10 years earlier and aimed at stabilizing Mali after a Tuareg rebellion in 2012, pulled out of the country at the request of the junta, which called the mission a failure.
Following last month’s violence in Abeibara, images of lifeless bodies and incinerated campsites circulated on social networks for several days. The Associated Press has not been able to verify them.
Citizen’s Observatory for Monitoring and Defending the Human Rights of the Azawad People, a civil society organization also known as Kal akal, said in a statement Friday that there were at least 60 civilians killed in the Abeibara area and that they were buried in mass graves.
The group denounced “a vast campaign of ethnic cleansing carried out by the Russians of the Wagner group, in the company of the Malian army.”
A spokesman for the Malian army, Col. Maj. Souleymane Dembélé, said the military was unaware of the alleged killings. “It’s true that there are military operations underway throughout the national territory,” Dembélé told the AP over the phone. “But I have no information on these accusations.”
More than a decade of instability has followed the Tuareg rebellion, though in 2015 the Tuareg rebel groups signed the peace deal with the government that was welcomed by the United Nations.
But following the military coup in 2020, Mali’s junta broke the peace agreement with the Tuareg rebel groups and attacked their stronghold of Kidal in 2023. Since then, Kidal has been plagued by violence, particularly against civilians.
Malian army and Russian mercenaries accused of killing dozens of civilians in Kidal region
https://arab.news/7jgv3
Malian army and Russian mercenaries accused of killing dozens of civilians in Kidal region
- Killings took place from June 20 to 29 in the Abeibara, Kidal region, say civil society groups and residents
- Mali military denies knowledge of the killings. Mali has long battled armed groups, including many allied with the Al-Qaeda and Daesh
Philippines probes Bondi Beach suspects’ visit, downplays militant training reports
- Suspects spent 4 weeks in the Philippines last month
- Govt says no evidence visit linked to militant activity
MANILA: The Philippine National Police launched on Wednesday a probe into the recent visit to the country of a father and son whom Australian authorities have identified as suspects in last week’s mass shooting in Sydney.
Two gunmen killed 15 people and wounded dozens of others during Hanukkah celebrations at Sydney’s Bondi Beach on Sunday.
The suspected shooters, identified by Australian authorities as Sajid Akram and his son Naveed Akram, traveled to the Philippines last month.
The news has prompted various media outlets to speculate that there are links between their visit and the Sydney attack — an allegation Manila has since denied.
The investigation launched by the Philippine police seeks to establish the purpose of the suspects’ travel and their movement while in the country.
“This matter is being investigated as we seek to determine the reason behind their visit to the Philippines. We are finding out which places they went to, who they talked to, and where they stayed while they were in the country,” Philippine National Police acting chief Lt. Gen. Jose Melencio Nartatez Jr. said in a statement.
Bureau of Immigration data shows that 50-year-old Akram and his 24-year-old son arrived in the Philippines from Sydney on Nov. 1. They left the country on Nov. 28 via a connecting flight from Davao in the southern Philippines to Manila, with Sydney as their final destination.
According to a police statement, Philippine authorities, including the government and military, said there was no evidence the trip was related to any militant activity in the country and was “not considered as a serious security concern.”
Australian media reports linking the suspects to Daesh and alleging the group used the Philippines as its training ground were denied by the Philippine government.
“Information from operating units on the ground indicates no ongoing training and recruitment,” Department of National Defense spokesperson Arsenio Andolong told Arab News.
“There is no indication of imminent domestic terrorist threats.”
Presidential Communications Office Undersecretary and Palace Press Officer Claire Castro also dismissed the claims as “misleading” and “portraying the Philippines as a training hotspot for violent extremist groups.”
She told reporters that the National Security Council “maintained there is no confirmation to allegations that the father-and-son suspects in the recent mass shooting in Bondi Beach, Sydney, Australia, received training in the Philippines.”
Castro added that Philippine security forces “have significantly weakened” Daesh-affiliated groups since the 2017 Marawi siege.
The southern Philippine city in Mindanao island was in 2017 taken over by groups affiliated with Daesh. After five months of fighting and hundreds of deaths, the Philippine army reclaimed the area.
“Both UN and the US government assessments indicate that these groups now operate in a fragmented and diminished capacity,” Castro said.
“Violence in Mindanao is largely driven by historical conflicts and local clan disputes rather than the operational capacity of ISIS-affiliated organizations.”
