It is said that a picture is worth more than a thousand words; a photo posted on Telegram in December 2024 proves just how accurate that expression really is.
The image in question shows a pair of legs lounging in the shade on a red carpet in the middle of the desert with a pack of cigarettes in the foreground — almost like an arty postcard from the Sahel.
But upon greater inspection, there’s much more to this picture: to the right there is a Malian army ration and perhaps even more strikingly, the background features a parked 4×4 pick-up truck with a machine gun mounted on the back.
This photograph was posted on a channel linked to Wagner, the officially disbanded Russian private military company (PMC),and the legs seen in the foreground seem to belong to a mercenary fighter.
The devil hides in the detail
A closer look reveals that the pick-up is similar to the ones used by Mali’s national army. The weapon mounted on the bed of the truck is a W85 heavy machine gun manufactured by the Chinese arms company NORINCO.
This is a significant detail here, because both China and Mali are part of the 2013 United Nations brokered Arms Trade Treaty (ATT), which commits weapons exporters and importers to far-reaching due diligence obligations.
The ATT requires signatory states to ensure that arms exports do not contribute to human rights violations, war crimes, or the destabilization of regions.
But what does this have to do with this image?
If it was proven that the Malian military did provide equipment to Russian mercenaries, this would be considered a clear violation of the ATT agreement.
Any such potential violation of the ATT would mean that Mali could face diplomatic consequences and sanctions if suspicions of diverting weapons from their intended end users were confirmed.
New study says Wagner uses Malian military equipment
The Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime (GI-TOC) suggests that Russia-linked mercenaries have relied heavily on material and equipment from the Malian army, even in the absence of Malian soldiers during operations.
This includes the use of armored vehicles, machine guns mounted on light 4x4s, and even attack drones.
GI-TOC analyst Julia Stanyard told DW that investigators had “found that the Wagner Group was making systematic use of military goods and equipment that were intended for Mali’s armed forces during their deployment in Mali.”
Stanyard explained that the research team had reached this conclusion after interviewing anonymous sources within the Malian armed forces and corroborating their answers with evidence such as photos of armored vehicles and other military equipment on Telegram channels as well as other open source resources.
The GI-TOC report levels strong accusations against Mali’s military leadership for allowing Russian mercenaries to appropriate such military equipment knowingly.
UN report: Wagner also broke rules in CAR
The GI-TOC report specifically names five types of armored vehicles which were identified to have been appropriated by Wagner: two from the United Arab Emirates, and one each from China, France, and Nigeria. This is in addition to machine guns from China and drones from Turkey.
All states these except the UAE are direct signatories of the ATT; in the case of the UAE, there are national laws which require a so-called end-use certificate, which stipulated that the recipient country will not divert the military equipment received without authorization.
However, there is additional eveidence pointing to the fact that the arming of Wagner mercenaries does always conform to such rules, such as the 2021 UN report on the Central African Republic (CAR).
The authors of that documents found that Wagner soldiers had diverted weapons delivered by Russia for their own use, even though only CAR troops were authorized to use them.
The UN regarded this as a breach of end user controls.
Wagner mercenaries: new jobs in Russia’s Africa Corps
Initial reports of Wagner soldiers being deployed to Mali first emerged in late 2021; following two succesive military coups, Mali’s new junta rulers ended the country’s long-standing security cooperation with Western armies, especially France, but also Germany.
Mercenaries from Russia were brought in to fill the vacuum and support the overstretched Malian forces in countering terrorists and rebels.
However, multiple human rights violations were recorded during this period.
In 2023, Wagner leaders fell out with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s Russian power apparatus in Moscow, resulting in a failed mutiny against the autocratic leader and the death of the head of Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, under highly mysterious circumstances.
Wagner, which had been active in numerous African countries, was largely dismantled, with its units placed under the command of the newly founded Africa Corps, a part of Russia’s Ministry of Defense.
In June, the Wagner Group’s mission in Mali also officially ended, with the Africa Corps taking over its place.
Wagner and Africa Corps two sides of same coin
The evidence gathered in the GI-TOC study only relates to the activities of the Wagner Group.
However, there are indications that the Africa Corps has since been operating in a similar fashion, Stanyard tells DW:
“It’s often made up of many of the same people. Lots of the people who are deployed with Africa Corps in Mali are former Wagner mercenaries. So, while they’re ostensibly a different organization, in some ways they are very much the same.”
“I suppose the changeover to Africa Corps doesn’t necessarily mean a greater adherence to international norms on behalf of the Russian state. In fact, quite the opposite,” says Stanyard.
Traces of Ukraine war in Africa
Irina Filatova, a Russian historian based in South Africa, says that from the start Wagner had always received weapon deliveries from Russia for its deployments dating back to its establishment in the mid 2010s; however, in the case of Mali, she told DW that she had no information on such deliveries taking place.
“With the war in Ukraine dragging on and Russia’s resources tight, it would be logical to use what is available, particularly as both Wagner and Africa Corps train the locals,” she emphasized.
Despite DW’s multiple requests for comment, members of Mali’s transitional parliament either rejected the report’s findings or did not respond by the time of publication of this article.
Kossivi Tiassou contributed to this article.
Edited by: Sertan Sanderson
