Mali war disrupts cocaine supply to Europe

France's surprise intervention in northern Mali against Islamist fighters involved in lucrative drug-running has disrupted cocaine supply to Europe but smugglers are already finding new routes, analysts said. The former colonial power sent its jets and troops exactly two months ago to eliminate Al-Qaeda-linked groups that had been controlling northern Mali for nine months and were threatening to move south towards the capital.

The jihadist network in Mali's north has funded itself by taking foreign hostages but also by levying a tax on smugglers running drugs from Latin America to feed Europe's ever-growing market. Poverty and the lack of government presence in the vast desert expanse has provided an ideal ground for smugglers.

Daily Nation

France impose media blackout on North Mali war

France has in an unprecedented move called for a total media blackout in what many say is an attempt to save her image from damages caused upon her former colony Mali.
The ban on the media comes as the international Federation for Human rights issue a damning report accusing both the French and Malian troops of gross human rights violation. In a meeting called to sensitize local journalists about the war in the north, Malian army introduced what they call the rule of engagement for any journalist wishing to cover the war in the north.

PressTV

Mali rebels declare independence of Azawad nation

Mali’s Tuareg rebels declared independence of an Azawad nation on Friday, as the political crisis in the country showed no signs of abating. Tuareg forces seized control of the country’s north in the chaotic aftermath of a military coup in the capital, Bamako.

“We, the people of the Azawad,” they said in a statement, “proclaim the irrevocable independence of the state of the Azawad starting from this day, Friday, April 6, 2012.”

Mali’s African neighbours have said they are planning military action to push the rebels back, as well as to restore constitutional rule elsewhere. France, which has already said it is willing to offer logistical support for a military invasion, said yesterday that it does not recognize the new Tuareg state. “A unilateral declaration of independence that is not recognized by African states means nothing for us,” said French defence minister Gerard Longuet. The European Union agreed.

Scotsman.com

Soldiers take control in Mali coup

Mutinous soldiers in Mali have taken over state television and announced that they have seized control of the government. The soldiers said the coup was necessary because of the mishandling of an insurgency in the north.

The spokesman for the soldiers, Lieutenant Amadou Konare, said in a communiqué that the troops had taken the country's security into their own hands "due to the inability of the government to give the armed forces the necessary means to defend the integrity of our national territory".

A soldier at the presidential palace said the presidential guard had failed to defend the palace against the renegade soldiers. They have seized control of the seat of government, but could not find democratically elected leader president Amadou Toumani Toure, who is in hiding.

On national television, a group of about 20 soldiers were shown in fatigues crowding around a desk facing the camera. They introduced themselves as the National Committee for the Re-establishment of Democracy and the Restoration of the State, or CNRDR. "The CNRDR representing all the elements of the armed forces, defensive forces and security forces has decided to assume its responsibilities and end the incompetent and disavowed regime of Amadou Toumani Toure," said their spokesman reading from a statement.

The Press Association