Drug trafficking is a major problem fuelling the conflict in Mali and impeding the peace process, the country’s foreign minister said on Thursday on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.
Abdoulaye Diop, Mali’s foreign minister, told reporters that the drug trafficking menace is a major concern for his country.
The minister said that drug trafficking went hand-in-hand with terror attacks as the two big impediments to implementing the peace agreement.
Stability has remained very elusive for Mali three months after reaching a peace deal designed to end decades of conflict.
Jihadist groups linked to al-Qaeda seized control of Mali’s vast arid north from March 2012 to January 2013 when they were pushed back by forces from France.
Parts of the remote north however still remain out of the control of the army or the UN military mission as the country struggles to restore peace.
There were hopes of a return to stability in May when northern-based loyalist militias signed a peace deal with Tuareg rebels in the area but the deal remains fragile.
