Allegations of severe human rights abuses, including forced disappearances and summary executions, are increasingly being leveled against soldiers from Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger. These forces are actively engaged in counter-jihadist operations across the Sahel region, prompting significant concern from the United Nations.
During a Security Council videoconference focusing on the Sahel, Jean-Pierre Lacroix, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations, emphatically stated, “I urge the G5 Sahel Joint Force and its member states to spare no effort” in upholding human rights. This concern has been voiced with increasing urgency for several months, alongside ongoing condemnations of jihadist activities and inter-communal violence.
In early April, the UN mission in Mali (MINUSMA) highlighted a “multiplication” of alleged abuses attributed to national armies. MINUSMA documented 101 extrajudicial killings by the Malian army between January and March, along with approximately thirty more by the Nigerien army on Malian territory. Guillaume Ngefa, director of MINUSMA’s human rights division, confirmed that “These figures, names, and circumstances have been documented.”
In Burkina Faso, twelve individuals detained on suspicion of complicity with jihadists died in gendarmerie cells in mid-May. Relatives and NGOs claim these were civilians summarily executed. Judicial investigations have been promised.
“Very serious allegations”
Niger faces similar accusations, with reports circulating in April of 102 people allegedly killed by the military in the western Tillabéri region, based on a list of missing persons. While the Ministry of Defense pledged an inquiry, it also commended the “professionalism” of its troops.
Human rights organizations consistently publish lists of names and photos, lamenting the disappearance of individuals following military operations. A majority of the disappeared are Fulani, often unfairly associated with jihadist complicity.
A representative from the Malian Fulani association Tabital Pulaaku, speaking anonymously, expressed frustration: “We can produce reports, denounce that so many Fulani have been killed and thrown into a well, or show the world a mass grave, but nothing is done afterward.”
Abou Sow, president of Tabital Pulaaku, told the press, “It is undeniable that some Fulani have joined jihadism, but it is naive to reduce jihadism to a single ethnicity.”
Sahelian governments have generally stood by their armies, which, despite often being underequipped and undertrained, bear a heavy burden in the fight against jihadism.
Representing the G5 Sahel (Mauritania, Chad, Niger, Burkina Faso, and Mali) before the Security Council, Mauritanian Foreign Minister Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed stated that “achieving full capacity for the Joint Force entails its ability to fully grasp the human rights dimension.” Mauritania, he affirmed, “is undertaking actions to ensure respect for the law.” Niger’s Ambassador Abdou Abarry, a non-permanent Council member, echoed this, saying, “We fully adhere to human rights,” as countries like Belgium voiced concern over “very serious allegations.”
“A related objective”
In a declaration released last Friday after its meeting, the Security Council noted “the measures announced by several Sahel governments in response to these allegations of human rights violations, and encourages their finalization.”
These accusations against national armies emerge at a critical juncture for the Sahel. The UN, for its part, faces skepticism from some Security Council members regarding the scale of its mission in Mali, which numbered 13,000 personnel in mid-June.
France has also re-evaluated its commitment in the Sahel following the deaths of 13 French soldiers in November. Despite the presence of France, MINUSMA (whose mandate is due for renewal), and the G5 Sahel Joint Force established in 2017, the surge of violence has remained unchecked, leading to thousands of deaths and hundreds of thousands displaced since 2012.
Ibrahim Maïga of the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) in Bamako remarked that “civilian protection is only a related objective” for military forces whose “number one priority is to neutralize” jihadists.
When questioned by AFP in May about the abuses attributed to national armies, General Pascal Facon, commander of the French anti-jihadist force, described them as “intolerable” and potentially damaging to the “credibility of the forces.”
