Un voices deep concern over human rights abuses by Sahel armies

During a Security Council videoconference focused on the Sahel, Jean-Pierre Lacroix, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations, issued a strong appeal on Friday. He urged the G5 Sahel Joint Force and its member states to “spare no effort” in upholding human rights.

Concerns have escalated over several months, coinciding with ongoing denunciations of jihadist atrocities and widespread intercommunal violence in the region.

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In early April, the UN mission in Mali (MINUSMA) highlighted a “multiplication” of abuses attributed to national armies.

MINUSMA documented 101 extrajudicial killings by the Malian army between January and March, along with approximately 30 more carried out 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 arrested on suspicion of complicity with jihadists were found dead in gendarmerie cells in mid-May. Relatives and non-governmental organizations assert that these were civilians who were summarily executed. Authorities have pledged to conduct investigations.

– “very serious allegations” –

Meanwhile, in Niger, reports indicate that 102 people were allegedly killed by the army in the Tillabéri region in the west. A list of disappeared individuals circulated in April supports these claims. The Ministry of Defense announced an inquiry, while simultaneously commending the “professionalism” of its troops.

Consistently, human rights organizations have published lists of names and photographs, lamenting the disappearance of individuals following military operations. The majority of those who vanished are members of the Peul ethnic group, who are frequently and unfairly associated with jihadist collaborators.

An anonymous official from the Malian Peul association Tabital Pulaaku expressed frustration, stating, “We can write reports, denounce that so many Peuls 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 Peuls have embraced jihadism, but it is naive to reduce jihadism to a single ethnicity.”

Sahelian governments have consistently stood by their armies, which are often under-equipped and inadequately trained, yet bear a heavy cost in the fight against jihadism.

Speaking before the Security Council on behalf of the G5 Sahel (Mauritania, Chad, Niger, Burkina Faso, and Mali), Mauritanian Foreign Minister Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed affirmed that “the achievement of full capacity for the Joint Force implies its ability to fully grasp the human rights dimension.”

He assured that Mauritania is “undertaking actions to ensure respect for the law.” Abdou Abarry, Niger’s Ambassador and a non-permanent member of the Council, echoed this sentiment, stating, “We fully adhere to human rights,” even as countries like Belgium voiced concern over “very serious allegations.”

– “related objective” –

In a statement released Friday after its meeting, the Security Council noted that it “has taken note of the measures announced by several Sahel governments in response to these allegations of human rights violations, and encourages their finalization.”

Accusations against national armies emerge at a pivotal moment for the Sahel region.

The UN, for its part, faces skepticism from some Security Council members regarding the scale of its mission in Mali, which is set to involve 13,000 personnel by mid-June.

France, too, re-evaluated the terms of its engagement in the Sahel following the deaths of 13 French soldiers in November.

Despite the presence of French forces, MINUSMA (whose mandate is up for renewal), and the G5 Sahel Joint Force, established in 2017, the escalating wave of violence has not been contained. Since 2012, this conflict has resulted in thousands of deaths and hundreds of thousands of displaced persons.

For Ibrahim Maïga of the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) in Bamako, “the protection of civilians is merely a related objective” to the “number one priority of military forces, which is to neutralize” jihadists.

In May, General Pascal Facon, commander of the French anti-jihadist force, described the alleged abuses by national armies as “intolerable” and potentially damaging to the “credibility of the forces.”