(S/NF) MALI'S REGULATION OF EXPLOSIVE PRECURSORS

S E C R E T BAMAKO 000221 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/03/2018 TAGS: PINR EAGR PTER ML SUBJECT: (S/NF) MALI'S REGULATION OF EXPLOSIVE PRECURSORS (C-CT7-01577) REF: A. 07 STATE 132047 ¶B. STATE 16558 Classified By: Classified by Political Officer Glenn Fedzer For Reason 1.4 (C) ¶1. (S/NF) Mali does not yet have a law place to regulate the purchase, concentrations, and use of referenced explosive precursors (reftels). However, according to Mr. Abdramane Sidibe, the Chief of the Regulation and Control Division at the Ministry of Agriculture, the Council of Ministers approved a draft law to regulate the sector on October 31, ¶2007. This draft law was passed at the National Assembly on February 7, 2008. The law is now awaiting approval by President Amadou Toumani Toure before entering into force. Once the law is approved, then the Ministry of Agriculture will issue a decree aimed at implementing the law by outlining all the details of regulation and control procedures, including import, storage, sales, and use conditions. It will also declare legal concentration limits. An inter-ministerial committee will oversee the fertilizer regulation process. ¶2. (S/NF) Currently, the state-owned Malian cotton company (CMDT),which consolidates fertilizer procurements for cotton farmers, uses urea (46% Nitrogen) in fertilizer for both cotton and grain crops. The President of CMDT, Soumeleye Dante, reports that nitrophosphate is replacing the urea formula. A 50 kg sack of urea or nitrophosphate costs around USD 25. MCCULLEY