Photo Essay: Thousands Flee Mali as Sahel Becomes World's Deadliest Region for Extremist Violence

DOUANKARA, Mauritania — In a windswept makeshift settlement on the Mauritanian edge of the Sahel, thousands of people who recently fled Mali now live under strips of fabric and improvised shelters after intense fighting with militants linked to al-Qaida.

Strips of cloth tied across wooden poles serve as living spaces, and tree limbs have been repurposed as shelving. Many families arrived without their livestock, the mainstay of their livelihoods, and face minimal protection from the Sahel’s punishing heat and wind. Despite those hardships, refugees say the camp feels safer than remaining inside Mali.

Caught Between Fighters

The Associated Press obtained rare access to the border zone, where refugees say they were trapped between opposing forces in what the Global Terrorism Index identifies as the world’s deadliest region for extremist violence.

Some refugees described alleged atrocities by the newest force operating in Mali: a Russian military unit called Africa Corps that replaced the Wagner mercenary group about six months ago. Witnesses recounted beheadings, burnings and other violent acts they attributed to the unit, which they say now operates under Moscow’s direct command. Russia’s Defense Ministry did not respond to questions from the Associated Press.

But danger to civilians is not limited to Africa Corps. Aid workers, analysts and refugees report that Mali’s army and a range of militant groups have also committed abuses. As access to the country becomes increasingly restricted for journalists and human-rights monitors, much of this violence goes undocumented.

Human Stories

In a clinic near the border, relatives of a 14-year-old girl said she was raped by men they described as “white men” during an assault that left her close to death and too traumatized to recall the attack. They spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.

“What happened next stays between God and me,”

In another tent, a woman clutched a photograph of her 18-year-old daughter, who suffered a seizure at the sound of gunfire during an attack that killed villagers and sent families fleeing. The mother later found her son shot dead; her daughter died while they fled toward Mauritania. The photograph is all that remains.

This documentary photo story was curated by AP photo editors and documents the human toll of the widening conflict on civilians forced to flee Mali.