When the notorious Wagner Group of Russian mercenaries announced its departure from Mali earlier this year, it declared on social media that its “mission was accomplished.”

In reality, the group conducted counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency operations for three and a half years with catastrophic results: the Sahelian nation continues to be identified as the global epicenter of terrorism.

“Despite its reputation for combat readiness and occasional claims of public triumphs in Mali, the Wagner Group’s strategy has been plagued by a series of failures,” stated the investigative organization The Sentry in an August 27 report.

The Kremlin has replaced Wagner with its own paramilitary force, the Africa Corps, which operates under the control of the Ministry of Defense. Up to 80% of the Africa Corps’ personnel are former Wagner mercenaries, according to a July 29 report from the Timbuktu Institute.

“The Africa Corps inherits Wagner’s history of human rights violations, including extrajudicial killings and torture,” the report details. “These abuses, frequently committed with impunity, foster discontent among certain communities and fuel jihadist recruitment that exploits various grievances.”

Through interviews with Malian military personnel, intelligence agents, and officials from the Ministries of Finance and Mines, The Sentry revealed profound animosity from Malian soldiers towards the Russians. They reported that Wagner fighters disregarded their chain of command and control; Malians attributed security deficiencies and operational blunders, which led to significant personnel and equipment losses, directly to the Russians.

The brutal tactics employed by these mercenaries and their inconsistent approach to counter-terrorism also failed to gain the trust of the Malian populace.

“Since Wagner’s arrival in Mali, there has been a significant surge in attacks against civilians and civilian casualties, often linked to Malian security forces and their allied militias. Indeed, the Wagner Group employs tactics that indiscriminately target civilians.”

Reports also indicate that Wagner fighters engaged in sexual violence and mass executions, exemplified by the 2022 Moura massacre, where over 500 civilians were killed, including at least 300 men who were executed.

In early 2023, United Nations experts called for an independent investigation into flagrant human rights violations and “possible war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Mali by government forces and the private military contractor known as the Wagner Group.”

Experts noted that since 2021, they had received “persistent and alarming reports of horrific executions, mass graves, acts of torture, rape, and sexual violence.” Numerous requests for investigations in Mali have yielded no results.

Some soldiers from the Malian Armed Forces (FAMa) attributed the scale of the Moura massacre to the influence of Russian mercenaries over senior army officers.

One soldier told The Sentry: “Without Wagner, there would have been no Moura. Not on such a scale, not with such duration, not so many deaths.”

Malians blame the heavy-handed Russian tactics for provoking an increase in recruitment among Tuareg separatist fighters and terrorists affiliated with Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State.

Amadou Koufa, leader of the Katiba Macina, an Al-Qaeda-affiliated Islamist militant group, stated in a 2024 interview on France24 that Russian brutality encouraged local residents to join the struggle to “defend their religion, their land, and their property.”

Russians have reportedly attacked weddings and funerals with drones, while videos of Wagner fighters abusing Tuareg civilians circulate online, further escalating discontent and fueling recruitment propaganda.

“Local community leaders in central Mali frequently complain that Wagner has failed to permanently improve the security situation in their region,” researchers from the Royal United Services Institute wrote in a January 2025 report.

Wagner suffered a devastating defeat in July 2024 when several terrorist groups attacked a large convoy of vehicles near the Malian village of Tin Zaouatine in the northeast. Militants claimed to have killed 84 Russian mercenaries and 47 FAMa soldiers.

The relationship between Wagner and the FAMa deteriorated into mutual suspicion, according to The Sentry. Russian survivors accused Malian intelligence services of underestimating the number of rebels and abandoning them mid-battle. In response, Malian officers accused the Russians of ignoring chains of command, requisitioning their vehicles, and openly treating them with racism.

“We have fallen from the frying pan into the fire,” a high-ranking officer told The Sentry.

Anger intensified when militants attacked Bamako airport in September 2024, killing over 100 people. Wagner units were stationed nearby but reportedly waited five hours before intervening.

“If you don’t pay them, they don’t move,” an airport guard told The Sentry.

Charles Cater, Director of Investigations at The Sentry, declared that the Wagner Group’s intervention in Mali was a failure.

“Heavy-handed and ill-informed counter-terrorism operations have strengthened alliances among armed groups threatening the state, caused significant battlefield losses for Wagner, and led to a greater number of civilian casualties,” he stated. “Ultimately, Wagner’s deployment was not in the interest of the Malian people or the military government, nor even in the interest of the mercenary group itself.”

Justyna Gudzowska, Executive Director of The Sentry, emphasized that Mali’s experience should serve as a stark warning.

“As Moscow extends its influence into the Sahel and rebrands itself with the Africa Corps, it is crucial to understand that Wagner was neither the infallible combat force nor the effective economic actor it claimed to be,” she asserted.

“The Malian example instead illustrates the group’s double failure, and this should serve as a cautionary tale for other African clients considering employing the Ministry of Defense-backed Africa Corps.”