Mali mainly, 2012 coup, drugs & more

[Uboat509]

Does anyone know anything about Mali please? I'm about to do some research on the place and given the level of expertise in here thought that SWJ was a good place to start.

Are there any security issues there? Any potential conflict?

Historical involvement in conflicts around Africa?

Sorry to be so Billy Basic but I have to start this off somewhere!

The French are still there, in fact one of them was recently kidnapped in Western Mali.

Security issues abound in Sub Saharen Africa and Mali is no exception. If you are looking for searches, look into Mali and the Tuaregs. There is a great deal to be found on that subject. Also search for Mali and AQIM.

[Jedburgh]

....Security issues abound in Sub Saharen Africa and Mali is no exception. If you are looking for searches, look into Mali and the Tuaregs. There is a great deal to be found on that subject. Also search for Mali and AQIM.

The Tuareg rebels in the north are led by Ibrahim Ag Bahanga and grouped under the Alliance Touareg Nord-Mali pour le Changement (ATNMC).

When looking into security and conflict, don't restrict yourself to Mali. Many issues are regionally linked throughout the Sahel. Look into crime, smuggling and terrorism, separately and together.

[M-A Lagrange]

Commando spirit

As I’m French, I may enter in the discussion… But Mali is not the part of Africa I am the most familiar with.

Good sources to start with and be familiar with what is going on there is to look at
www.rfi.fr
www.afrik.com/mali
www.Allafrica.com (especially the French version).

If you read French, then go to Karthala (http://www.karthala.com/index.php) and Harmathan (http://www.harmattan.fr/index.asp).
It is the two main French editors for development, history, security research books.
You may find some stuff in English in their catalogue (but I doubt of it).

In English:
http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/qui...li&searchtype=
You will find a lot of publications on Mali. Mostly development oriented but will help you to understand the economic and sociological issues there, often linked with security/political issues. In Africa, I would say that economy and politic/security are bound and melted.

I do not know how much this will help as it’s not Mali focussed only. But as Jedburgh said, most of the issues are regional. I can orient you to two main French think tanks:

IFRI, Subsaharian African issues (English version)
http://www.ifri.org/?page=detail_research_center&id=1

IRIS, African issues (English version)
http://www.iris-france.org/en/aires-...he/afrique.php

If you will be assigned in Mali, basically you have to speak French. Just like I, I have to speak English to work in East and Southern Africa. Just don’t assume that Malians will speak English.
If you need more specific oriented docs in French mostly, just contact me, I may help.

[Commando Spirit]

As with other areas on SWJ, your advice is hugely appreciated; many thanks.

CS

[davidbfpo]

I mentioned the crashed jet with cocaine aboard and now this BBC report: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/8422010.stm

A court in the US has for the first time charged suspected members of al-Qaeda with plotting to traffic cocaine in order to fund terrorism. (later on)..The informant claimed in secretly taped conversations that the FARC were looking for a secure means of smuggling drugs through western and northern Africa on the way to Europe.

The crime-terror nexus so beloved by some analysts. There are US newspaper reports too, on today's SWJ news round up.

[davidbfpo]

Try this article: http://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/20...d-in-the-sand/ by a UK reporter who works the region and has his own website: http://simanowitz.ning.com/ (Mali is not the focus, but Western Sahara).

[James Phelan]

I have spoken with a few people who think that the FARC connection is strongest in Guinea-Bissau. I was there over the summer- little to no government control of the hundreds of small islands off the coast and a corrupt military with more officers than enlisted- bad recipe. When the chief of the military in GB, Tagme, was assassinated last spring he was killed by a bomb, more typical of a FARC like operation that what was seen in GB before. A few AQ linked people were arrested there for the murder of French tourists in Mauritania. Overall, I think the AQ connection is pretty weak in West Africa in general- one of those cases where they put up the flag and we throw millions of dollars away. The drug connection is another story however with the decline of the dollar relative to the euro.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L19487497.htm