Since « white men from Wagner » burst in one morning in February into the town of Nampala, Mali, Fatoumata has wanted to « lose her memory. » « What I saw was probably worse than hell, » she said, half of her face hidden behind a multicolored veil she held in place with her hands « to remain anonymous. » « The white men raped several women, including two right in front of me and their children, just outside their huts. I don’t know why I was spared, » she added, struggling to hold back tears.
That day, the Russian auxiliaries of the Malian army, present in the country since 2021, reportedly arrived once again in a convoy of several vehicles – « at least four, » according to Fatoumata – in search of jihadists or suspected collaborators. The Fulani men in the village, often targeted for arrest and summary execution because of their perceived ties to jihadists, fled into the bush.
« That was the ritual we had established, » said this mother, still in shock. « As soon as we heard Wagner was coming, the men would go into hiding. But this time, they didn’t spare the women, » she continued, assisted by a coordinator from the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) at the Mbera camp in Mauritania.
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