GENEVA - United Nations experts on Tuesday called for an independent investigation into possible war crimes and crimes against humanity in Mali by government forces and Russian private military contractor the Wagner Group.
Mali, whose government took power in a 2021 military coup, has previously said Russian forces in the West African country are not mercenaries but trainers helping local troops with equipment bought from Moscow.
Tuesday’s statement mentioned the Wagner Group by name, and described credible reports of the involvement of military personnel believed to belong to the group in a massacre of hundreds of people in March.
Survivors have said that white mercenaries suspected to be Russians took part in the massacre in Moura, a market town in central Mali. The incident sparked international uproar and prompted the UN to open an earlier investigation.
