The Los Angeles Times: French accuse Russian mercenaries of staging burials
UC political scientist condemns burial scene in Mali, West Africa
Video of soldiers burying bodies in Mali, West Africa, have surfaced, and the French military say the scene is staged and they believe the forces behind it are Russian mercenaries from The Wagner Group. They also say the group is trying to pin the scene on the French as a move to discredit the French forces operating in northern Mali; and is part of a coordinated campaign of information attacks that have been going on for months.
“The Wagner Group and the Malian Armed Forces appear to be taking disregard for human life to new levels in Mali,” Alexander Thurston, assistant professor of public and international affairs at the University of Cincinnati, told The Los Angeles Times.
Thurston’s focus is Islam and politics in northwest Africa, with a focus on the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.
French troops have been a major presence in Mali since helping to dislodge Islamist rebels from strongholds in northern Mali in 2013.
Featured image at top courtesy of Unsplash/James Wiseman.
Impact Lives Here
The University of Cincinnati is leading public urban universities into a new era of innovation and impact. Our faculty, staff and students are saving lives, changing outcomes and bending the future in our city's direction. Next Lives Here.
Related Stories
Coding without code: How vibe coding rewrites the rules
March 17, 2026
Vibe coding allows beginners to build sophisticated web applications with zero coding skills. Discover how vibe coding can simplify workflows and drastically boost productivity.
How the University of Cincinnati co-op program is shaping the future of work at SXSW
March 17, 2026
The University of Cincinnati served as a 2026 Workplace Track sponsor at the annual South by Southwest (SXSW) Innovation Conference March 12-18 in Austin, Texas, showcasing how co-op is redesigning the future of work.
Recent advances may speed time to endometriosis diagnosis
March 16, 2026
The average time to clinical diagnosis of endometriosis is nine years. Definitive diagnosis of the disease is difficult, and until recently, has relied on laparoscopic surgery. Now, as Medscape recently reported, novel clinical recommendations, advanced diagnostic tools and research into inflammation and immune responses, are bringing promise that women with endometriosis will find relief sooner and without surgery, according to experts, including Katie Burns, PhD, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine associate professor.