German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock warned Wednesday that European forces would not cooperate with Mali's military while it maintained links to Russia, during a visit to the conflict-torn Sahel state.

At a news conference in the capital Bamako, Baerbock said she feared "massive war crimes" were being committed against Malian civilians, which she suggested followed a pattern used by Russian forces in Syria and Ukraine.

Russia has supplied what are officially described as military instructors to Mali.

But the United States, France, and others, say the instructors are operatives from the Russian private-security firm Wagner.

The shadowy organisation has long been suspected to be the Kremlin's paramilitary arm.

The alleged presence of Wagner operatives, as well as delayed elections, has driven a wedge between the country's army-dominated government and Western countries.

On Monday, the EU decided to halt its military training mission in Mali citing insufficient guarantees from Mali over Wagner.

Baerbock said during Wednesday's news conference: "We cannot continue the cooperation without demarcation from the Russian forces".

Some 300 German soldiers participate in the European Union Training Mission in Mali.

However, Malian Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diop suggested that Baerbock was unfairly comparing events in Mali and Ukraine.

"We must not confuse things," he said, adding that Mali was not involved in the war in Ukraine.

Diop added that Mali's foreign partners should respect the country's choices.

An impoverished nation of 21 million people, Mali has over the past decade been wracked by Islamist violence. Swathes of the country are in thrall to myriad rebel groups and militias.

Thousands of soldiers and civilians have been killed and hundreds of thousands of people have been forced to flee their homes.

Mali's under-equipped army has also often been accused of committing abuses during the brutal conflict.

Three Germans suspected of "terrorism" in Mali were released meanwhile, a German government spokesman said Wednesday, amid Baerbock's visit.

- Alleged massacre -

There are allegations that Malian troops -- in coordination with foreign fighters -- massacred hundreds of civilians in late March, for example.

Mali's army said on April 1 that it had killed 203 militants during a military operation in Moura in the centre of the country. However, the announcement followed social media reports of a civilian massacre in the town.

Human Rights Watch later released a report alleging that Malian troops accompanied by white, non-French-speaking foreign fighters killed about 300 civilians in Moura.

Mali, which has been governed by a military junta since a coup in 2020, has opened an investigation into the affair.

The army-dominated government regularly defends the rights record of the military, however. It has also repeatedly denied hiring Wagner operatives.

"Mali has a state-to-state relationship with Russia," Foreign Minister Diop said on Wednesday.

The country's ruling junta also sparked international anger after reneging on a promise to stage elections in February this year.

West Africa bloc ECOWAS has imposed sanctions on Mali, including a trade embargo, over the delayed return to civilian rule.

Amnesty accuses Mali of impunity over stalled war crimes cases
Dakar, Senegal (AFP) April 13, 2022 - Amnesty International accused Malian authorities Wednesday of making little progress in investigating war crimes or civilian abuses in the Sahel state, arguing that "impunity still prevails" in such cases.

In a report, the rights group said that instances of war crimes and violence against civilians had risen since 2018, particularly in conflict-torn central Mali.

The rights group listed massacres variously blamed on jihadists, Malian armed forces or the French army, which first intervened in the country in 2013.

"Abuses have... been committed against civilians by armed Islamist groups such as the GSIM and EIGS, whose insurgency has gradually spread from the north to the central regions," it said, referring to the Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (GSIM) and the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (EIGS).

"Among numerous incidents, for example, suspected GSIM members killed at least 32 people in the villages of Tori and Diallassagou in July 2020. Numerous people have been abducted and held captive by members of these groups during the period covered by this report. Villages have been blockaded, impeding the most basic rights of individuals."

Mali has been struggling to quell a brutal jihadist conflict that first emerged in 2012, before spreading to neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.

Poorly paid Malian soldiers are also often accused of committing abuses against civilians.

Amnesty said in a statement accompanying its report on Wednesday that "impunity still prevails" in Mali despite pledges from authorities to investigate recent massacres.

Many of the documented abuses constitute war crimes or crimes against humanity, the rights group said.

Investigations are hampered by rampant insecurity, as well few protections for witnesses and illegal detentions of suspects by the country's intelligence services.

"Impunity for the most serious crimes only encourages their repetition and the cycle of violence thus continues," the report said.

Amnesty called for more financial and technical resources for Mali's judicial system, as well as greater political will to advance the investigations.

A landlocked nation of 21 million people, Mali is one of the poorest countries in the world.

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