Malian refugees. Photo: AFP via Getty Images

Militants from Russia’s African Corps are committing numerous killings, rapes and other crimes in the African country of Mali. These fighters, subordinated to Russia’s Defence Ministry, have replaced the Wagner Private Military Company, once a powerful Russian paramilitary formation used in covert overseas operations.

Source: Associated Press (AP), citing dozens of civilians who have fled the fighting

Details: According to the refugees, the African Corps uses the same tactics as Wagner. Two refugees showed video footage of villages burned by "white men". Two others said they had found the bodies of their relatives with their livers and kidneys missing, something that had previously been reported in connection with Wagner’s activities.

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"It’s a scorched-earth policy. The soldiers speak to no one. Anyone they see, they shoot. No questions, no warning. People don’t even know why they are being killed," said a Malian village chief who fled.

AP noted that the military governments of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger have turned from Western allies to Russia for help in fighting militants linked to al-Qaeda or Islamic State.

When the African Corps replaced Wagner six months ago, civilians hoped the brutality would decrease. The United Nations says they have suffered abuses by all sides in the conflict. But refugees have spoken about a new reign of terror by the African Corps.

AP gained access to the Mauritanian border, where thousands of Malians have fled in recent months due to intensified fighting. The agency spoke to 34 refugees who described indiscriminate killings, abductions and sexual violence. Most of them spoke on condition of anonymity.

"They are the same men, paid by the government, and continue the massacres. There is no difference between Wagner and Africa Corps," the village elder said.

The Malian authorities have never publicly acknowledged the presence of Wagner or the African Corps. But in recent weeks, Russian state media have released reports from Mali praising the African Corps for protecting the country from "terrorists", and Russia’s Foreign Ministry has confirmed that the unit operates "at the request of the Malian authorities", providing ground escorts, conducting search-and-rescue operations and other tasks, AP says.

Experts say it is impossible to know how many people are being killed and abused in Mali, especially in remote areas, as journalists and humanitarian organisations have increasingly limited access to the country.

Moscow began developing the African Corps as a competitor to Wagner after its leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, was killed in a plane crash in 2023 following a brief armed mutiny in Russia.

Analysts estimate that the African Corps numbers around 2,000 fighters. Not all of them are Russian. Several refugees told AP they had seen Black men speaking foreign languages. In a recent report, the European Council on Foreign Relations noted that the unit recruits fighters from Russia, Belarus and African states.

Although the number of civilian deaths blamed on the Russians has fallen this year – to 447 people so far compared with 911 last year – these figures may not reflect the full scale.

Legal experts have said that the shift from Wagner to the African Corps makes the Russian government directly responsible for the actions of the militants.

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