- The scourge of illegal drugs trade poses a serious danger to west Africa, which is at the heart of transporting massive amounts of narcotics from South America to Europe, United Nations chief on drugs and crime warned today.
At least 50 tonnes of cocaine from Andean countries are said to pass through west Africa every year, heading mostly to streets of France, Spain and United Kingdom, where they are worth some $2 billion, according to UN reports.
“This is probably the tip of the cocaine iceberg,” said Executive Director of UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Antonio Maria Costa, at a high-level conference in Cape Verde capital, Praia.
Cocaine seizures are also said to have doubled every year for the past three years, with 2007 totals amounting to 6,458 kilogrammes, and major seizures this year include a 600 kilogramme cocaine bust at airport in Freetown, Sierra Leone, this summer, according to a report launched by UNODC at Praia meeting.
Report shows that most large containers of cocaine entering Africa from South America make landfall around Guinea-Bissau in the north and Ghana in the south, and are shipped to Europe by drug mules on commercial flights.
“West Africa is at risk of becoming the epicentre for drugs trafficking and the crime and corruption associated with it,” Mr Costa warned Ministers of Economic Community of West Africa States (ECOWAS) attending the meeting.
Mr Costa told the participants that narco-trafficking, through a vulnerable region that has never previously faced a drug problem, is perverting weak economies, corrupting senior officials and poisoning youth by spreading addiction and criminality.
“Youth in particular suffer the damage,” said Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in a message to the meeting.
“We must keep them from turning to crime, and protect them from becoming victims of drug abuse and addiction,” he added in statement, which was read out by his Special Representative for West Africa, Said Djinnit.
According to drug seizure data, majority of air couriers come from Guinea, Mali, Nigeria and Senegal and the cocaine is distributed by powerful West African criminal networks upon arrival in Europe.
“Prosecutors and judges lack the evidence or the will to bring to justice powerful criminals with powerful friends,” said Mr Costa, highlighting that local police are ill-equipped to deal with the threat.
At Praia meeting, Ministers of ECOWAS agreed to a political pact to fight drug trafficking and organized crime in West Africa, as well as to devise a regional response plan.
At the same meeting, Mr Costa underlined importance of promoting development and strengthening rule of law in reducing vulnerability to drugs and crime in the region.
He called on West African governments to “stop the corruption that is enabling criminals to infiltrate your countries,” and urged the international community to provide assistance to countries exposed to the influx of drugs to control their coasts and airspace, as well as train specialised police forces to investigate organized crime and drug trafficking.
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