Warning: This story contains descriptions of torture and physical violence. Some readers may find it distressing.
A shopkeeper has told the BBC how Russian mercenaries fighting jihadists in Mali carried out the cold-blooded murder of two men in front of him and then threatened to chop off his fingers and kill him too.
This is one of several similar testimonies collected by the BBC showing the tactics used by the Russian fighters as they waged a brutal counter-insurgency operation against Islamist militants in the West African nation—methods widely condemned by human rights groups.
A military junta seized power in Mali in 2021, forcing French troops to leave after accusing them of failing to stem the insurgency. The junta pivoted towards Russia, enlisting the help of the Wagner mercenary group, which was linked to the Kremlin.
Wagner has since pulled out of the country, and its operations have been taken over by Africa Corps, which falls under Russia's defense ministry.
Some of the Wagner mercenaries highlighted their atrocities on an invitation-only Telegram group until it was shut down in the middle of this year, a report released by the European Council on Foreign Relations revealed.
They regularly shared photos and videos of murder, rape, torture, cannibalism and desecration of corpses against alleged insurgents and civilians, the report added.
In June, the Africa Report publication reported that it had infiltrated the Wagner-linked Telegram channel, finding 322 videos and 647 photographs of atrocities, including severed heads and gouged-out eyes, with posts laced with racism.
The shopkeeper we spoke to has fled Mali and is now living in a refugee camp across the border in Mauritania. We have renamed him Ahmed and changed the names of all the victims for their safety.
Ahmed described his ordeal starting when Wagner combatants accused his boss of colluding with jihadists and took him captive. After enduring brutal torture including near-drowning and witnessing the beheading of others, he was eventually released.
He expressed a desire for justice, stating, The experience haunts me. It gives me nightmares. Meanwhile, the situation in Mali has spiraled, pushing nearly 50,000 people to seek refuge in Mauritania. Many, such as Bintu, have lost loved ones and share traumatic memories associated with the name Wagner.
A separate account from Youssouf highlights similar brutalities, including torture leading to death, further emphasizing the pervasive fears within the affected communities.
Mali's current reliance on mercenary forces like Africa Corps, with an alarming legacy of human rights abuses, continues to raise concerns for the future of civil safety and oversight in the region.
