ABUJA, Nigeria – Survivors of an armed robbery report that mercenaries from Putin’s private army sexually assaulted a dozen women and girls – at least one as young as 15 – and humiliated them by using smartphones to film their naked bodies after the attack.
Wagner Group soldiers are said to be in Mali in an advisory capacity, but evidence continues to surface of human rights abuses and massacres linked to the paramilitaries deployed by President Putin’s close ally Yevgeny Prigozhin, who also plays a key role in Mali’s invasion Of Ukraine.
One of the victims told The Daily Beast that after she refused to undress, a Russian paramilitary hit her in the head with a gun, causing her to pass out. When she regained consciousness, she found herself naked on the floor next to about five other women, who were also unclothed.
“We were surrounded by white soldiers,” said Maryam, 23, whose real name The Daily Beast prefers not to reveal. “Some of them were holding phones and taking pictures of us.”
Witnesses say the raid began around 8am on September 4 in the village of Nia Oura in Mali’s central Mopti region. Diarra, 30, tells The Daily Beast that he was making his way to his farm when Russian mercenaries, accompanied by soldiers from the Malian Armed Forces (FAMA) and hunters from the traditional Dozo Brotherhood, stormed his premises and began digging into the to shoot air.
“While they were shooting, they called us traitors and claimed we were working with terrorists to attack them,” said Diarra, whom The Daily Beast identifies with his first name, along with two other witnesses, to protect him from possible retaliation. “They kept saying they’ll take care of us.”
After about 30 minutes of sporadic shooting, Diarra says, the paramilitaries — who were part of the notorious Wagner group — ordered the arrest of the men at the site, leaving only women and children behind.
“The white soldiers ordered the FAMA and the Dozo hunters to bring all the men to Sofara [a town located 6 miles from Nia Oura,where Wagner’s central base is located]said Diarra, who managed to flee into the nearby bush with two other men after hearing that the Russians were ordering her arrest. “I heard one of the white soldiers yell, ‘Leave the women for us.'”
As Diarra and his two neighbors made their way home after hiding from the intruders for more than two hours, they said they heard the voices of women on the compound screaming as Wagner mercenaries harassed and abused them. The three men waited on the road until they were sure the Russians had left before proceeding to the compound.
“When we came back, we met the crying women,” Diarra said. “Some of them had blood on their clothes.”
According to Diarra, there were about 12 women and girls at the site who said they had all been sexually assaulted by Wagner paramilitaries, who then lined them up and took video of the naked victims.
“The women said the white soldiers stripped them, raped them, and then took out their smartphones, which they used to film the women’s naked bodies,” Diara said. “The women said they were treated like animals.”
Since arriving in Mali late last year following a lucrative deal with the new military junta, Wagner paramilitaries, who have been used in a series of offensives against Islamist extremists, have been repeatedly linked to a series of atrocities committed in the recalcitrant nation. As the Daily Beast first reported, many of the men who cut their teeth fighting for Wagner in Africa have since been deployed to the illegal war in Ukraine.
In August, the NGO Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED) reported that nearly 500 civilians had died in incidents involving Malian forces and Wagner since early 2022. The most heinous event happened in March in the village of Moura, where about 300 men were killed in four days in a massacre involving mercenaries from the private military company.
Another survivor of the raid on the site, Seydou, 37, told The Daily Beast that he was arrested by Dozo hunters who accused him of working for jihadists, blindfolded him and held him at Wagner’s Sofara base until they were convinced that he had no connection with Islamist extremists. When he returned home, he found that his 15-year-old cousin had been sexually assaulted by the Russians.
“My cousin told me that two white soldiers raped her in her own room and in front of her colleagues,” said Seydou, who was held for five hours. “They then took pictures of her naked body.”
Not far from Seydou and his cousin, another group of women were gathered at a compound near an elementary school by Wagner mercenaries, who ordered them to strip before taking pictures of them, according to a local trader who witnessed the shooting incident was.
“The women who did not immediately obey the order to undress were beaten and their clothes torn by the white soldiers,” said Boubakar, who watched the events from his living room window, which faced the compound. on which the incident occurred. “It was heartbreaking to watch.”
Neither the Malian government nor Prigozhin responded to The Daily Beast’s request for comment on the alleged rape and abuse of women in Nia Oura. Emails to the Malian government spokesman and to Concord Management, a company majority-owned by Prigozhin, went unanswered.
Malian authorities claim that a thousand or more Russian paramilitaries are only trainers and are not being used in combat roles. The government is silent on the atrocities in Nia Oura.
Locals say the agony inflicted on them by the Wagner group may never go away.
“My cousin has been traumatized for weeks and cries every day,” Seydou said. “I pray that one day she can heal.”