# Moura Massacre Over five days beginning **March 27, 2022**, Malian troops and what the UN called "foreign military personnel" took control of the village of Moura in central [[Mali]] during a livestock fair, detained about 3,000 people and, over at least four days, selected several hundred for summary execution. It is the worst single atrocity of Mali's conflict and the defining abuse of the [[Wagner Group]]'s Sahel deployment. ## The UN finding The UN human rights office report, released **May 12, 2023** after a MINUSMA investigation the junta largely blocked, found "reasonable grounds to believe" that **at least 500 people** were executed, about 20 women and 7 children among them; 58 women and girls were raped or sexually assaulted. UN rights chief Volker Türk said the acts could amount to war crimes and possibly crimes against humanity. Human Rights Watch had reported about 300 civilian men killed within days of the event. The UN report names no nationality for the foreign personnel; witnesses described white men in fatigues speaking an unfamiliar language. Amnesty International identified them as Wagner. Mali's junta, which had claimed 203 "terrorists" killed, called the UN report "fictitious" and opened an espionage probe against the investigators. ## See Also - [[Mali]] · [[Wagner Group]] · [[Africa Corps]] · [[2026 Mali Attacks]] · [[Jama'at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin]]