While Mali has been suffering the throes of a multidimensional crisis for a decade, it has become a crossroads for the reception and reshipment of narcotics. Consequence of insecurity and vast uncontrolled borders with Algeria to the north (1,376 km), Niger to the east (821 km), Mauritania to the west (2,237 km) and Burkina Faso to the south (1,000 km), from the desert regions to the north, where smuggling of goods between the Maghreb and sub-Saharan Africa is rampant.
The Tour de l’Afrique is a large roundabout in the Malian capital. Linking national roads (RN) 7 and 6, it is also the crossing point to other regions of the country or external destinations. At night, at the foot of the 46-meter-long monument located in Bamako, sellers and buyers of cannabis rub shoulders.
In the underground Bamako
Almost out of sight, in this underground Bamako, transactions take place. Like this place, Bagadadji and Missira, in Commune II of the district of Bamako, are reputed to be two of the districts of the capital where drugs are the most sold.
As part of Operation Founou-Founou (“Tourbillon”), the IIIe borough announced the arrest of several drug dealers and the dismantling of certain networks. The police claim to have arrested a major trafficker from Commune II known for his role in supplying the various markets of the capital, gold panning areas and terrorist networks. Also in the same town, on February 4, the police carried out an operation at the N’Golonina market, which resulted in the discovery of a cache containing a large quantity of cannabis and Tramadol, among other narcotics.
Outside the capital, in recent years, several drug seizures have been made in Sikasso, Koutiala, Yanfolila… and Gao. “There are a lot of depots in the city and even a place called ‘Quartier Cocaïne’. It is from there that it is transported to Bamako, by truck”, denounces a local source who requested anonymity, “on pain of being killed”.
In the city of Askia, we find in “Jamaica” of cannabis, en “Colombia”, coke, to “Miami” and on the Place de l’Indépendance psychotropic drugs and sachets of adulterated alcohol.
Mali, a landlocked narco-state?
Although a landlocked country, Mali has been used since the 1990s as a place of deconditioning and transport to European markets for cocaine and heroin.
“The phenomenon experienced a rapid expansion in the middle of