The underside of the infox, the chronicle
In Gossi, staging of a mass grave to discredit the French army
After leaving Gossi in Mali, the French army faces an information attack orchestrated by the Wagner group.
© Twitter screenshots/ RFI editing
By: Sophie Malibeaux |
Gregory Genevrier Follow
6 mins
Two days after the transfer of the Gossi base to the Malian Armed Forces, the French army deplores an informational attack targeting Barkhane, accused of having left a mass grave behind her.
Videos taken by aerial means make it possible to witness the fabrication of an infox orchestrated by the Wagner company, and relayed by Russian trolls on social networks.
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The day after the
departure of the last French soldiers from the Gossi base
in central-eastern Mali, a
first tweet
alerted: "
the images of the corpses from the Gossi base are terrible
".
In this tweet published on Wednesday April 20 at 8:06 p.m. UT, the author evokes "
a crime against the Malian people committed by the French
" and a video circulating on WhatsApp.
The next day, he publishes
a photo
at 10:51 UT, where we see half-buried human remains.
This same Thursday, April 21, at 2:37 p.m. UT, the video is published of a mass grave of about ten people whose limbs are partly covered with sand.
The author of this series of tweets, a certain Dia Diarra, who describes himself as a "
former soldier
", is clearly a Russian troll.
In any case, it is
a fake account
spotted by the French army, created in January 2022 with a borrowed photo, replaced during the day by the portrait of the head of the ruling junta, Assimi Goïta.
The author of these tweets, @DiaDiarra6, changed his profile picture on Thursday April 21, after an Internet user demonstrated that it was from a Colombian VKontakte account.
© Twitter screenshots/ RFI editing
The making of fake news revealed
In fact, two other views of this mass grave exist.
They show these corpses, with eleven men in uniform moving nearby.
Two of them throw shovelfuls of sand on the inert bodies.
In another excerpt, we see men filming the scene and taking pictures.
The mass grave photo posted on Twitter was taken by man #1.
© French Armies
These images come from a video taken by an aerial sensor.
The French army has decided to use these means to monitor the area after the transfer of the base.
As of Tuesday, April 19, the general staff of the armies had warned of the possibility of an informational attack aimed at discrediting Barkhane's forces.
It has happened in the past that the army has been wrongly accused of various types of trafficking, or even of abuses that it had not committed.
The army is therefore in possession of images showing what it presents as Russian “
mercenaries
” of the Wagner militia, fabricating false accusations against the French soldiers.
A work of geolocation and analysis of the videos and photos allow to conclude that the pictures posted on the social networks correspond well to what the aerial views show.
The scene takes place 3.5 kilometers from the former base of Gossi.
The mass grave is located 3.6 kilometers east of the former Gossi camp.
© French Armies
We can also see on other images captured from the sky, Chinese brand Dongfeng vehicles, used by Wagner and the Fama, entering and leaving the base.
When the French soldiers left Gossi on Tuesday April 19, only a detachment of about fifty Malian soldiers was present on the scene.
Wagner singled out
According to the analysis of the situation by the French staff, which does not mention the presence of Malians near the mass grave, Wagner's men would be alone in the maneuver.
But other images collected by the French army show that the previous night, Fama were sleeping within the base, near the tents generally housing Wagner's mercenaries.
The publication of documents of this type by the French army is a first.
It is a question of short-circuiting the production of this infox and of bringing a response to the informational offensive.
It is not uncommon, on the Malian ground as in Ukraine, that Russian disinformation aims to divert attention from abuses committed by its own elements.
According to the French general staff, the bodies used in this staging could come from
operations carried out not far from Gossi, in Hombori
,
April 19.
After a gendarmerie vehicle was hit by an improvised explosive device, the Fama and their Russian auxiliaries carried out operations in the Hombori market, causing an as yet unknown number of casualties.
At this stage, the Malian authorities have not commented on the images of the mass grave.
No mention is made of an ongoing or future investigation.
Exchanges in Bambara
We also note that the circulation of these images, which are enough to arouse emotion, has not become as viral as one might expect.
They also elicit a lot of skeptical comments.
Listening to the soundtrack, we hear exchanges in Bambara, one of the national languages of Mali.
The Russian militiamen are obviously accompanied by at least two Malians.
According to the comments made, it is they who are responsible for throwing sand on the bodies.
Their exchange is edifying: "
I don't believe what they are telling us
", says one of them, adding: "
I am drunk by this attitude
".
Reply from his interlocutor in Bambara: "
you don't dig enough, the bodies must be well covered
".
It appears that the two men who exchange these few sentences are not afraid of being understood by the men in uniform.
The withdrawal of French troops from Mali and the rearticulation of the Barkhane force elsewhere in the Sahel is a logistical challenge.
It is done under the threat of such informational attacks.
For the army, "
this maneuver to discredit the Barkhane force seems coordinated
" and "
testifies to Wagner's modes of action
" in Africa, as already observed in the Central African Republic.
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