Mali’s military authorities have arrested a colonel from the gendarmerie who recently published a book about abuses by the Malian armed forces, raising fears of an enforced disappearance, Human Rights Watch said today.
Various sources, including one who spoke to Human Rights Watch, said that on March 2, 2024, unidentified men abducted gendarmerie Col. Alpha Yaya Sangaré from his home in Bamako, Mali’s capital, and drove off with him in a vehicle without a license plate. The military has since confirmed Sangaré’s arrest but has yet to divulge where he is being detained.
On February 24, Sangaré published his book, Mali: The Challenge of Terrorism in Africa, which denounced human rights abuses by the Malian armed forces in their fight against Islamist armed groups. The book’s reporting includes extracts from a 2017 Human Rights Watch report on extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, torture, and arbitrary arrests of men accused of supporting Islamist armed groups.
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