New videos have surfaced on social media showing soldiers engaging in cannibalistic practices in Mali and Burkina Faso. The first video, released on July 16th, caused widespread shock in Mali. This was quickly followed by a second video later in the week, providing further disturbing details. Over the past weekend, several similar videos have emerged, this time showing soldiers in Burkina Faso eviscerating their victims. These images have provoked widespread nausea and indignation.
The second video of Malian soldiers began circulating on Friday, July 19. Following the theme of the first, it shows soldiers announcing their intent to consume their victim’s liver before proceeding with the act. The footage shows them cooking organs and wrapping a finger in aluminum foil as a “souvenir.”
The soldiers’ uniforms are more discernible in this video, particularly a t-shirt that confirms their affiliation with the Parachute Commando Regiment (RCP) stationed in June 2022 in Sokolo, Niono Circle, in central Mali.
Last week, several security and civilian sources had already suggested this possibility. A Malian security source also confirmed that similar incidents had been reported to higher authorities without providing further details.
In Burkina Faso, multiple videos have circulated on social media in recent days. While the exact locations and dates remain unclear, the footage shows uniformed soldiers disemboweling a decapitated and dismembered body in search of its liver and heart. The soldiers speak Mooré, refer to the corpse as “meat,” and proudly display their faces while identifying themselves as belonging to BIR 15 Cobra 2, one of the rapid intervention brigades established two years ago by Captain Ibrahim Traoré, the transitional president of Burkina Faso.
Another video shows armed men in civilian clothes, likely VDPs (Volunteers for the Defense of the Homeland, army auxiliaries recruited from the population), posing next to an impaled head. One of them holds a leg and laughingly claims, in Mooré, that it belongs to a jihadist.
In a statement released on July 17 (dated July 16th), the Malian army distanced itself from these “atrocious” practices and promised to take “all necessary measures” to uncover the truth.