A new report by the United Nations’ Malian mission, known as MINUSMA, reveals that civilian deaths and rights abuses attributable to the Malian armed forces and backed by “foreign military elements” have surged in the first quarter of 2022. Al Jazeera reports that, while the report did not name the “foreign military elements” supporting the army, it showed that the total number of people killed in the first quarter of 2022 by all parties in the conflict – rebels, self-defence groups, and security forces – quadrupled during the last three months of 2021, rising from 128 to 543, with a total of 248 civilian deaths attributable to the defence and security forces.
