INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
The Russian paramilitary group Wagner abducted, apprehended and tortured numerous civilians throughout its more than three years in Mali,
consisting of at former UN bases and military camps shared with the Malian army, according to a report published Thursday by a consortium of
journalists.The victims, spoke with from a refugee camp in neighboring Mauritania, described being waterboarded, beaten with electrical
cable televisions and burned with cigarette butts, according to the examination led by Forbidden Stories and carried out in collaboration
with France 24, Le Monde and IStories.The examination determined six sites where civilians were unlawfully apprehended and tortured between
2022 and 2024, though the actual number is likely greater, the reporters said
The techniques mirrored those supposedly used by Wagner in Ukraine and Russia, and sometimes, led to deaths.Malis judgment junta, which
pertained to power in coups in 2020 and 2021, cut ties with former colonial power France and turned to Russia for political and military
While the junta has never formally acknowledged Wagners existence, declaring instead to work with Russian trainers, human rights groups and
Western federal governments have long declared Wagner fighters were active in the country.Last week, a Telegram channel associated with
Wagner said the group would be withdrawing from Mali
Its fighters are expected to be soaked up into the Africa Corps, a Kremlin-linked paramilitary force, according to diplomatic and security
sources who talked to AFP.A UN investigation implicated Malian soldiers and foreign fighters of performing a minimum of 500 individuals
during an anti-jihadist operation in the town of Moura in 2022 a claim the junta rejects
Western governments state Wagner mercenaries were involved.In April 2024, bodies were discovered near a Malian military base days after the
army and Wagner personnel apparently apprehended dozens of civilians, the majority of them from the Fulani ethnic group.
