Colonel Alpha Yaya Sangaré is a Malian military officer and whisteblower who was detained in 2024 after publishing a book documenting human rights abuses by the
Malian Armed Forces.
Career
Sangaré joined the
National Gendarmerie, a military force with law enforcement duties, after graduating from a military school in 1999 in
Koulikoro, where he trained alongside
Abdoulaye Maïga; his father had also been a police officer.[1][2][3] Following the
2020 coup d'état, which saw the removal of the government of
Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta and the establishment of a
military junta, Sangaré became the commander of the newly established
Bamako gendarmerie region. He attained the rank of
colonel within the Malian Armed Forces.[4][5]
Following the 2020 coup d'état, Sangaré had called for a transition to a civilian-led government.[4]
Sangaré obtained a masters degree from
Wilmington University in
Delaware in the United States. In August 2022, Sangaré defended his PhD thesis, entitled "Terrorism and the fight against terrorism in Mali: problems, issues and institutional challenges" at
Cheikh Anta Diop University in
Dakar, Senegal.[3]
Whistleblowing and arrest
In 2023, Sangaré published a book entitled Mali: The Challenge of Terrorism in Africa (French: Mali: le défi du terrorisme en Afrique), in which he criticised the Malian Armed Forces for abusing human rights during its
ongoing fight against the Islamist insurgency in northern Mali from 2016.[6][7][8] Citing research from his doctoral thesis as well as reports from international human rights organisations like
Human Rights Watch, the book detailed
extrajudicial killings,
enforced disappearances,
torture, and
arbitrary arrests of people suspected to be supportive of
Islamists.[2][9][10] Sangaré concluded that the abuses occurred with the complicity of the military hierarchy.[11]
Initially published to little national attention, Sangaré and the book received greater notice following a signing at the Bamako Peacekeeping School on 24 February 2024, which was attended by government workers including Abdoulaye Maïga, the Minister of Territorial Administration and Decentralisation and former acting
Prime Minister of Mali.[1][3] On 1 March 2024, Mali: The Challenge of Terrorism in Africa was denounced in a statement by the Ministry of Defence, who accused Sangaré of making "false accusations" against the Malian Armed Forces.[1][7][12] Maïga also released a statement distancing himself from Sangaré and stating he had not read the book prior to attending the event.[2][13]
On 2 March 2024, Sangaré was abducted from his home in Bamako by unidentified hooded men, who drove away in a vehicle without licence plates.[1][14] On 3 February 2024, his family confirmed his disappearance to
Agence France-Presse.[6][11] Later that day, the Malian military confirmed Sangaré's arrest, but did not confirm where he was being detained.[15] An anonymous source stated Sangaré's arrest without a warrant had been justified due to his status as a colonel criticising the military.[1] Sangaré was later reported to be being detained at a gendarmerie camp in Bamako.[3]
Response
Human Rights Watch criticised Sangaré's arrest as evidence of Malian authorities attacking whistleblowers rather than addressing the abuses being reported on, and called for Sangaré's immediate release.[1]
Works
Sangaré, Alpha Yaya. Mali: le défi du terrorisme en Afrique. Ivry-sur-Seine: Points Sur Les I Eds Les. 2023.
ISBN2359302558.
^Bénjamin, Babou (4 March 2024).
"Colonel Yaya Sangare arafunzwe" [Colonel Yaya Sangaré imprisoned]. Bwiza (in Kinyarwanda). Archived from
the original on 4 March 2024. Retrieved 4 March 2024.