{"id":628,"date":"2010-01-19T12:26:26","date_gmt":"2010-01-19T17:26:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/delicious.com\/url\/51d6773bf80e0adb6dc884b1d255d3c6#tomathon"},"modified":"2010-01-27T14:07:35","modified_gmt":"2010-01-27T19:07:35","slug":"we-must-reject-the-status-of-narco-state","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.tomathon.com\/mphp\/2010\/01\/we-must-reject-the-status-of-narco-state\/","title":{"rendered":"“We must reject the status of Narco-State”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Adam Thaim, chief editorialist for Bamako's Le Republicain, reflects on a Mali being caught in an international conflict over drugs and terrorism. In short, Malian's must solve this smuggling problem, before the West drags them into a "war on terror" and "war on drugs" from which they will benefit little. He notes a gang fight over cigarette smuggling at Batal – 15 km from Gao – last week that left one man dead, and another shot through each hand in punishment. Thaim fears the tie up in international conflicts will turn people against one another, and "Malians will soon assume every northerner is a bomber and any rich man is a drug dealer" While Malian's must pull together, the greater fear is from the perceptions of outsiders. "We are not owners of these conflicts and therefore it is not we, ultimately, who can gain from them. But rightly or wrongly, the link between this activity [the drugs trade] and the AQIM has been made and this will not win us the next Nobel Peace Prize."<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Adam Thaim, chief editorialist for Bamako's Le Republicain, reflects on a Mali being caught in an international conflict over drugs and terrorism. In short, Malian's must solve this smuggling problem, before the West drags them into a "war on terror" and "war on drugs" from which they will benefit little. He notes a gang fight over cigarette smuggling at Batal – 15 km from Gao – last week that left one man dead, and another shot through each hand in punishment. Thaim fears the tie up in international conflicts will turn people against one another, and "Malians will soon assume every northerner is a bomber and any rich man is a drug dealer" While Malian's must pull together, the greater fear is from the perceptions of outsiders. "We are not owners of these conflicts and therefore it is not we, ultimately, who can gain from them. But rightly or wrongly, the link between this activity [the drugs trade] and the AQIM has been made and this will not win us the next Nobel Peace Prize."<\/p>\n

Read more →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[107],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":520,"url":"http:\/\/www.tomathon.com\/mphp\/2009\/12\/us-arrests-malians-in-terror-drugs-link\/","url_meta":{"origin":628,"position":0},"title":"US Arrests Malians in Terror Drugs “Link”","date":"December 20, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"The US government will make much of the arrests of three Malians who they say were part of a West African criminal network, devoted to drug smuggling and Osama Bin Laden. So far all we have is hype and what looks like the entrapment of low level criminals.","rel":"","context":"In "Featured"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2115,"url":"http:\/\/www.tomathon.com\/mphp\/2013\/12\/looking-for-cocaine-terrorists-the-2009-us-drugs-sting-in-mali\/","url_meta":{"origin":628,"position":1},"title":"Looking For Cocaine Terrorists: The 2009 US Drugs Sting in Mali.","date":"December 2, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"This story originally appeared in Maghreb Politics Review on December 21, 2009, as \"US Arrests Malians in Terror Drugs 'Link'\". The claim that Al-Qaeda, Hezbollah, and the FARC are part of a worldwide drugs for terror conspiracy remains active in American press and government, and remains a fantasy that meets\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Featured"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tomathon.com\/mphp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/800px-Carcass_Sahara_Algeria.jpg?fit=800%2C533&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":844,"url":"http:\/\/www.tomathon.com\/mphp\/2010\/02\/sahelinterferences-le-quotidien-d%e2%80%99oran\/","url_meta":{"origin":628,"position":2},"title":"Sahel:”Interf\u00e9rences” (Le Quotidien d\u2019Oran)","date":"February 24, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"This Algerian paper has an interesting piece on the current \"AQIM problem\" in the Sahel, if only as an elucidation of a Algerian nationalist perspective. The US and other are continually hammering on about the Sahel becoming the next Afghanistan or Somalia, but more as an attempt to justify the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":919,"url":"http:\/\/www.tomathon.com\/mphp\/2010\/03\/niger-military-post-raided-on-mali-border\/","url_meta":{"origin":628,"position":3},"title":"Niger: Military post raided on Mali border","date":"March 8, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Reports are coming in of an attack by unknown assailants on the army post at Tiloa, a village around 12km from the Malian border. Several soldiers were killed. North of the more inhabited Zarmaganda plateau, Tiola is a tiny stop in the desert north of Tondikiwindi rural commune, Ouallam Department,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":876,"url":"http:\/\/www.tomathon.com\/mphp\/2010\/03\/mali-crime-and-guns-in-the-north-threaten-health-work\/","url_meta":{"origin":628,"position":4},"title":"Mali: Crime and guns in the north threaten health work","date":"March 3, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"M\u00e9decins du Monde Belgium reports that three of their health workers were carjacked in the desert north of Youwarou Cercle, Kidal Region on 2 March. Men armed with AK-47s stole a landrover and abandoned the workers in the desert. The MMB workers were part of a anti-Dracunculiasis (Guinea Worm) clinic\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1014,"url":"http:\/\/www.tomathon.com\/mphp\/2010\/04\/aqim-more-hostage-stories\/","url_meta":{"origin":628,"position":5},"title":"AQIM: More hostage stories","date":"April 20, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Philom\u00e8ne Kabor\u00e9 and her husband Sergio Cicala have given interviews regarding their captivity: she having been released some time ago, and he Friday the 16th. They were taken in Mauritania, near the border with Mali, on...","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1mYFK-a8","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.tomathon.com\/mphp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/628"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.tomathon.com\/mphp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.tomathon.com\/mphp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.tomathon.com\/mphp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.tomathon.com\/mphp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=628"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.tomathon.com\/mphp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/628\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":638,"href":"http:\/\/www.tomathon.com\/mphp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/628\/revisions\/638"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.tomathon.com\/mphp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=628"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.tomathon.com\/mphp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=628"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.tomathon.com\/mphp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=628"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}