UNODC Says Cocaine Trafficking Threat is in West Africa February 11, 2009
Posted by inrecovery in : Africa , add a commentIn an address to the United Nations Security Council, the Executive Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Antonio Maria Costa, gave evidence of the threat that cocaine trafficking is posing to stability and development in West Africa.
Citing a report issued by UNODC on Cocaine Trafficking in West Africa: the threat to stability and development (which is available on the UNODC website), Mr. Costa warned that West Africa has become a hub for cocaine trafficking from South America to Europe.
Some 33 tons of cocaine have been seized in West Africa since 2005, but this is probably only the tip of the iceberg. UNODC estimates that around 40 tons of cocaine were trafficked through West Africa this year alone. A quarter of all cocaine consumed in Europe now transits West Africa for a wholesale value (in West Africa) of about $1.8 billion, and a retail value of up to ten times that much on Europe’s streets.
This onslaught is due to more effective interdiction along traditional trafficking routes, the convenient location of West Africa between Andean cocaine suppliers and European consumers, but most of all the vulnerability of West African countries to organized crime.
In Guinea-Bissau alone, the value of the drugs trade is greater than the entire national income. Mr. Costa, who recently visited Guinea-Bissau, warned that “drug money is perverting the economy and rotting society. Using threats and bribes, drug traffickers are infiltrating state structures and operating with impunity”. He alerted the Security Council that “Guinea-Bissau has lost control of its territory and can not administer justice”. The police and justice system are completely overwhelmed and ill-equipped to deal with the threat posed by foreign criminal groups colluding with powerful local allies.
