Fighters from Russia's Wagner Group in Mali (archive image): The paramilitary group has reportedly executed 25 people there.Build: Keystone
Militants from the Russian Wagner group and Malian soldiers reportedly executed 25 people in Mali. Residents speak of reprisals.
Laura Mielke / T-Online
Written article
A total of 25 ethnic Fulani are believed to have been killed by the Malian military and members of the Russian paramilitary group Wagner. Several local sources reported this to “Radio France Internationale” (RFI).
Accordingly, the execution was carried out on January 26 in Velingara, a village on the border with Mauritania, known in the Fulfulte language as Vouro Fero. The Fulbe are a nomadic pastoralist people of West Africa who are now mainly sedentary.
Among the victims were children
According to reports, the army, renamed the Afrika Korps, and Wagner entered the village early in the morning, arrested 25 men and boys and took them two kilometers away. Their bodies were found there. Reports suggest that they were brutally killed. All the victims, including the children, were identified as Fulani. In addition to these executions, according to RFI, local sources report that twenty people arrested in the “raid” in December and their families can no longer be found.
RFI reported that the Malian military did not provide any information about the operation and did not respond to requests.
Not the first time
According to French media, this is not the first time the army and Wagner's soldiers have killed people. In late January, decapitated bodies were found in a camp near Dessalit in Mali's northern Kidal region. According to several local sources, some close to rebel forces, the three bodies found were of Gold Panneer. According to RFI, the sources interviewed the alleged Russian mercenaries of the Wagner group. RFI has not received any official information from the Army.
Residents of the region told RFI that the military operations and executions were not intended to protect the population and were perceived by them as reprisals, especially involving unarmed civilians.
They fear it could be a military response to attacks carried out by the al-Qaeda-linked jihadist group late last year. Malian soldiers died.
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