Mangan, Fiona and Matthias Nowak. 2019 ‘Key Arms-Trafficking Routes and Flow Patterns - Mali.’ The West Africa–Sahel Connection: Mapping Cross-Border Arms Trafficking, pp. 6-7. Geneva: Small Arms Survey, the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva. 1 December

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Mali is a primary destination country for arms trafficking in the region. Rebellion and instability have seriously undermined peace and security in the country since flows of arms from Libya in 2011–12 provided the firepower needed to launch widespread violent conflict. In spite of the deployment of two French military operations (Operation Serval in Mali and Operation Barkhane covering the Sahel more broadly) and a UN peacekeeping operation (the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali, or MINUSMA), security remains in flux and demand for arms is strong.

Fieldwork reveals that a number of key trafficking routes exist. A significant number of weapons have been trafficked from Libya through Niger (and to a lesser extent through Algeria) to supply weapons markets in northern Mali, such as in the towns of Kidal and Gao. Arms flows peaked in 2012–13, but decreased from 2014 onward as political conflict in Libya's coastal cities and in the south of the country among Tuareg, Tubu, and Arab groups increased internal demand and produced a counter-flow of ammunition and arms back to Libya. Illicit trade along the Libya–Niger–Mali route has also been inhibited by aerial surveillance by Operation Barkhane—a French anti-insurgent operation in the Sahel that was launched in summer 2014.

Other externally sourced weapons flows include routes that enter Mali from Mauritania, with the arms having either been trafficked from coastal West Africa, including Senegal, or originating in the disputed territory of Western Sahara. Interviews revealed that the coastal West African route draws arms from a number of coastal towns and cities to converge at the border town of Bakel on the Senegal River, which serves as a key trafficking and smuggling hub. They are then taken across the river, which delineates the border, and enter Mauritania. The weapons then traverse Mauritania to enter Mali via the southeastern border of Mauritania, travelling toward the small town of Foïta, where they converge with arms flows from Western Sahara. These routes are used to transport a wide range of firearms, including semi-automatic pistols and AK-pattern assault rifles.

Guinea also serves as a source of and transit point for weapons flows to Mali. All armed groups in Mali confirm that they have used the Guinean channel to procure arms during recent bouts of conflict. Guinea's National Commission for the Fight against the Proliferation of Small Arms and Light Weapons (CNLPAL) insists that these weapons flows stem from illicit arms still in circulation that were used during the Sierra Leonean and Liberian conflicts in the late 1990s and early years of the first decade of the 21st century; however, there is evidence of diversion from Guinean army stocks. For example, in 2016 MINUSMA identified the use in northern Mali of Iranian ammunition and related weapons that were produced in 2007 and originated from Guinean stocks.

In addition to larger arms flows, smaller caches of arms from West Africa are often found mixed with other licit and illicit goods smuggled from Nigeria, Guinea, and other West African countries. These represent more limited flows that, for example, are transported on pinasse boats up the Niger River to Labbezanga. In addition, some arms found in central Mali have been identified as weapons diverted from Burkina Faso, primarily from government stores. These are mainly transported by road, including on public transport buses, to Koro and Bankass.

In Mali itself arms circulate with ease due to limited state security presence in many parts of the country. Traffickers use a multitude of routes, making it more relevant to focus on key towns that serve as trafficking hubs. These hubs include Foïta, Koygma, Ber, Lerneb, Raz El Ma, and Gossi in the Timbuktu and Taoudeni regions; In Khalil, I-n-Afarak, Talhandak, Tin-Essako, and Anefif in the Kidal region; and Ménaka and Gao (the capitals of the Malian regions of the same names).

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