During a Security Council videoconference focused on the Sahel, Jean-Pierre Lacroix, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations, emphatically stated on Friday, “I urge the G5 Sahel Joint Force and its member states to spare no effort” in upholding human rights.
This growing apprehension has been consistently voiced for several months, coinciding with ongoing denunciations of jihadist atrocities and inter-communal violence in the region.
In early April, the UN mission in Mali (MINUSMA) highlighted a “proliferation” of alleged abuses attributed to national armies.
The UN 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 thoroughly documented.”
Mid-May saw the deaths of twelve individuals, arrested for alleged complicity with jihadists, in gendarmerie cells in Burkina Faso. Relatives and NGOs assert these individuals were civilians summarily executed. Authorities have pledged to conduct investigations.
– “Very serious allegations” –
In Niger, a list of disappeared persons circulated in April indicated that 102 individuals were reportedly killed by the army in the Tillabéri region, located in the west of the country. While the Ministry of Defense committed to an inquiry, it also commended the “professionalism” of its troops.
Consistently, human rights organizations have released lists of names and photographs, expressing grave concern over the disappearance of individuals following military operations. A significant majority of those missing are Fulani, who are frequently and unfairly linked to jihadist groups.
A senior member of the Malian Fulani association Tabital Pulaaku, speaking anonymously, lamented, “We can issue 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 afterwards.”
Abou Sow, President of Tabital Pulaaku, told the press, “It is undeniable that some Fulani have turned to jihadism, but it is naive to reduce jihadism to a single ethnic group.”
Sahelian governments have consistently stood by their armies, which, despite often being underequipped and undertrained, bear a heavy cost in the ongoing fight against jihadism.
Addressing the Security Council on behalf of the G5 Sahel (comprising Mauritania, Chad, Niger, Burkina Faso, and Mali), Mauritanian Foreign Minister Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed stated that “the achievement of full capacity for the Joint Force implies its ability to fully grasp the human rights dimension.”
He affirmed 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, declaring, “We fully adhere to human rights,” even as nations like Belgium expressed concern over “very serious allegations.”
– “Related objective” –
In a statement issued 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.”
The national armies face these accusations at a pivotal moment for the Sahel region.
Firstly, the UN is encountering skepticism from some Security Council members regarding the scope of its mission in Mali, which will involve 13,000 personnel by mid-June.
Furthermore, France reassessed 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 surge of violence has not been contained, resulting in thousands of fatalities and hundreds of thousands displaced since 2012.
Ibrahim Maïga, from the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) in Bamako, suggests that “the protection of civilians is merely a related objective,” while the “number one priority for military forces is to neutralize” jihadists.
In May, when questioned by AFP 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.”
