Human Rights Violations in Azawad: Monthly Report – June 2025

REPORT N°06/AKA/2025
Period: Month of June
Date: July 1st, 2025

Introduction

The Kal-Akal Association, a citizen observatory for the defense of human rights in Azawad, continues its mission of monitoring, documenting, and denouncing abuses committed against civilian populations, as well as advocating for human rights in the regions of Azawad and central Mali. Thanks to its network of local relays and anonymous witnesses, the association rigorously documents human rights violations, regardless of their origin.

This monthly report highlights human rights violations committed during the month of June 2025, in a context marked by intensified military repression, targeted abuses against specific communities, and terror imposed by various armed groups.

June 2025 was marked by a resurgence of violence against civilians. Aerial strikes and ground operations carried out by the Malian Armed Forces (FAMa), accompanied by the so-called Africa Corps — a direct successor to the Wagner Group — targeted civilians, displaced persons, nomads, and their property indiscriminately.
This supposed name change has done nothing to alter their practices: the Africa Corps is repeating — and even intensifying — Wagner’s brutal abuses across several areas of Azawad.

I. SUMMARY EXECUTIONS AND TARGETED KILLINGS: 72 Confirmed Cases

June 1: Mohamed Elbechir, a farmer from Labbezanga, was abducted and later murdered.
June 2: Two young men (a Tamasheq and a blacksmith) were executed in Timbuktu after a jihadist attack. They were handed over to racists who burned them alive.
June 4: In Tissi (Gao), 4 civilians were summarily executed by the Malian army following an EIGS (Islamic State in the Greater Sahara) attack.
June 6: In Yinwa (South), the army reportedly executed several civilians during Eid celebrations, including an 80-year-old man.
June 15: In Tanouma (Dialloubé), fishermen were killed in an airstrike.
June 21: In Ifagdawane (Léré), a Malian airstrike targeted a civilian vehicle parked near a nomadic tent, killing two civilians, injuring a third, and killing several animals.
June 25 & 26: Four civilians were killed by drones in Anommalan.
June 26: In Igacher Sdidane, over 20 civilians — including women, children, and community leaders — were executed during a ground operation by the Malian army and the Africa Corps.

II. ABDUCTIONS, FORCED DISAPPEARANCES AND TORTURE: 44 Confirmed Cases

June 1: 11 livestock traders abducted in Timbuktu.
June 3: Addou Ag Tahama disappeared in Timbuktu.
June 10: Arbitrary arrest of Daoud Ag Mohamed and Bibi Ag Alminawi in Gao.
June 22: 11 displaced youth arrested in Bawa camp, Gao.
June 21: A group of young men from Tessit arrested, tortured, and later sent back to Ansongo.
June 25: 6 civilians arrested in Adjachou (Timbuktu).
June 26: A joint FAMa–Africa Corps patrol from the Soumpi military base raided the village of Bardagou. After looting homes, they arrested three civilians.

III. PILLAGING AND DESTRUCTION OF CIVILIAN PROPERTY: 8 Confirmed Cases

June saw large-scale pillaging operations:

June 3: A fuel truck was set on fire in a nomadic camp near Almoustrat.
June 8: Two civilian vehicles destroyed in the bombing of Amasine (Kidal).
June 13: Homes and 3 civilian vehicles burned in Intadayné (Ménaka).
June 24–25: Looting in Diawely, Sormo, and Sourango; solar panels and civilian property were stolen.

IV. HUMANITARIAN CONSEQUENCES: EXODUS, TRAUMA, DISPLACEMENT

Exodus of inhabitants from bombed areas.
Entire families reported missing after drone strikes and civilian raids.

V. RAPE AND SEXUAL VIOLENCE: 0 Confirmed Cases

No cases were officially confirmed during June 2025, though suspicions persist in certain localities.

Conclusion

June 2025 ends with a damning conclusion: civilians in Azawad continue to bear the brunt of a conflict with no truce and unrelenting brutality. Serious violations of international humanitarian law have been committed by both the Malian Armed Forces and their Africa Corps auxiliaries, as well as terrorist groups like the Islamic State in the Sahel.

Despite changes in name or banner, the methods remain the same: summary executions, forced disappearances, looting, destruction of civilian property, and the spreading of terror among nomadic populations. Whether it is a military patrol, a mercenary-led operation, or a jihadist raid, the result is always the same: civilians suffer loss of life, freedom, and safety.

Kal-Akal denounces with the utmost urgency this convergence of violence, fueled by impunity and silence. We issue a solemn call to the international community to urgently launch independent and impartial investigations into all violations, regardless of the perpetrators, and to work towards the effective protection of civilians and the enforcement of humanitarian law.

Faithful to its mission of defending human rights, the Kal-Akal Association will continue tirelessly to document, alert, and support victims, in the hope that justice will be served and the dignity of the people of Azawad will finally be recognized and respected.

Some Images of the Crimes:

June 18, 2025: A joint FAMa–Africa Corps patrol entered Ajagharom, in the Azdjarat valley, Ménaka region. Several homes were burned down, and civilian property was seized.

June 27, 2025: Two civilians were killed and burned by a FAMa–Africa Corps patrol in Eghachar Sadidane, Kidal region. Around twenty people were killed in the same area by the same perpetrators.

June 4, 2025: In Tadjmart (50 km from Adjelhoc), a strike targeted a civilian vehicle: 5 dead, including two women and a child, and 3 injured, including a woman and a child. Among the victims was Biga Ag Bilal, killed alongside his wife, daughter, child, and grandson.

Contact Information for the Association:

Aka: Kal Akal Association
FAMa = Malian Armed Forces
Hani = Unidentified Armed Men