According to a UN report, the Malian army and “white soldiersare involved in the death, at the beginning of March, in Mali, of 33 civilians, including 29 Mauritanians and 4 Malians, in the region of Ségou, near the Mauritanian border. Their disappearance had aroused the indignation of the Mauritanian authorities who had conducted a joint investigation into this tragedy, with the authorities of Bamako. The results, at the beginning of August, have not been published. Mali has always rejected these accusations against its army.
The testimonies collected by the group of experts tell how white soldiers arrived in the village of Robinet El Ataye, frequented by Malian and Mauritanian herders for its well, how the latter gathered the men, including the teenagers, tied their hands behind their backs and blindfolded, while women and children were ordered to go home and not look, then looted homes.
A group of the FAMA (Malian Armed Forces) then arrived, beat the tied men with “the sticks used by the shepherds”, then freed the youngest, and took away 33 men – 29 Mauritanians and 4 Malians.
The next day, relatives discovered their bodies, 4 km away. They had been shot and then burned.
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This pattern of looting and beatings was repeated, without death, in five other villages in the area on 5 and 6 March.
Witnesses in the UN report twice mention a helicopter carrying white-skinned soldiers. Russian mercenaries from the Wagner group are regularly suspected of abuses against civilians in Mali.
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