Since 2007, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has been reporting on the fact that drug networks have turned their attention to Africa as a new drug hub and transit route for their criminal activities. With so many weak African countries, unable to control their territory efficiently, Africa is the new ‘heaven’ for drug traffickers. Cocaine and heroin have been coming from Latin America to several countries such as Cape-Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Nigeria and Senegal.

According to the UNODC, transnational organised crime is considered one of the major threats to human security, impeding the social, economic, political and cultural developments of societies worldwide. It is a multifaceted phenomenon and has manifested itself in different types of activities. In particular, drug trafficking is one of the main activities of organised crime groups, generating enormous profits which can then finance arms trade, human trafficking, civil wars or even terrorist activities.

Trafficking patterns have begun to evolve in frightening directions. According to several news reports, in 2009, authorities in Guinea Conakry alerted the UN drug office to the existence of elaborate laboratories and a vast cache of precursor chemicals, which could have been used to manufacture as much as US$ 170 million worth of the drug ecstasy, as well as to refine cocaine. Also in November 2008, an old Boeing 727, which had taken off in Colombia, crossed West African airspace and touched down on an airstrip controlled by terrorist groups in the desert of Mali. It is believed that the plane most certainly contained drugs or even arms, as the cargo was secretly unloaded before the plane was burned (New York Times, 2011).(2)

The countries on the West African coast offer traffickers everything they need: a proximity to Europe, a weakened state and administrative structure, a desperate citizenry and a hopelessly overmatched police force. UNODC estimates that about a quarter of Europe’s annual consumption of 135 to 145 tonnes of cocaine with a wholesale value of some US$ 1.8 billion currently transits via West Africa.(3) In light of these disturbing trends his paper analyses the impact of the narco-trade industry in countries such as Nigeria, Cape-Verde, Guinea-Bissau and Senegal. The focus is on how the criminalisation of the state can lead to major threats to peace and security within the West African region.

From South America to West Africa

Historically, cocaine has largely been the drug of the Americas, produced and trafficked and then ready for consumption in the North. However, for the past few years the picture has changed. It is clear from several studies and observations that American cocaine traders are reacting against the saturation of the North American market, the growing importance of Mexican drug gangs, and effective interdiction along the Caribbean smuggling routes. According to Stephen Ellis, these factors have led to a strategic shift from the drug barons towards the European market towards West Africa. The United States Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) states that South American drug trafficking groups have established ties with criminal organisations in Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Nigeria, Senegal and Togo.(4)

According to UN reports, as well as American law-enforcement and intelligence officials, cocaine crosses the Atlantic from South America either in small planes, including Cessna turboprops outfitted with an extra bladder of fuel, in commercial fishing vessels or cargo ships. The drugs are then transported in bulk along one of several routes. Some are taken to the international airports in Dakar, Senegal and Accra, Ghana or elsewhere, where they are generally swallowed in relatively small amounts by couriers and flown to European cities.

Many are referring to the Gold Coast as the Coke Coast as criminal networks are proliferating across the region. Guinea-Bissau is often named as one of the countries most seriously affected by the narco- trade. However, it is often forgotten that Guinea-Bissau is not the only country in West Africa where Venezuelan and Colombian traffickers have taken up residence. Similar reports come from Accra, Conakry, Lagos, Praia, and other capital cities.

The security implications for the countries affected “go to the very core of a state’s ability to maintain its sovereignty and integrity,” says UNODC Executive Director Antonio Maria Costa. The situation is so severe that it is threatening to bring about the collapse of these weakened states.

The threats to the West African sub-region

The consequences of this passive attitude towards the international drug trade are already becoming visible in the West African sub-region. A UN Security Council Press Release in February of 2005 described illicit cross border activities, such as drug trafficking, as an underlying threat to sub-regional stability.

Drug trafficking can lead directly to increased instances of crime, violent crime and political instability. A recent spate of killings in Ghana have raised concerns that drug trafficking may be involved. The magnitude of wealth derived from the trade allows drug barons to buy almost anything they desire, including ‘contract killers,’ according to the late Ghanaian president John Atta Mills.(5)

Closely linked with drug smuggling is small arms smuggling. Small arms proliferation has been recognised as one of the leading factors contributing to political instability in West Africa. For example, small arms proliferation is an acute problem in Guinea-Bissau, with many veterans of the country’s war of independence against Portugal in the 1970s still in possession of their AK-47 assault rifles. As a result, Guinea-Bissau’s territory has often served as a weapons stockpile for the region, including, for example, for the rebels in the Senegalese region of Casamance.(6)

Finally, drug and arms smuggling are also a threat to human security. The extensive criminal networks also bring about other crimes such as human smuggling, corruption and money laundering. All these illicit activities help to diminish human security and prospects for development in West Africa.

An incurable plague?

Transnational crimes such as drug trafficking, pose worrying threats to the security of both individuals and states. Criminal networks have diversified their portfolios in order both to reduce risks and to make it more difficult for law enforcement agencies to trace them. This has made it extremely difficult for the several efforts to combat drug trafficking in the region. Several declarations, conventions and protocols fail to be implemented successfully due to a lack of infrastructure, human resources, funds, and often political will.

Perhaps most importantly, the fact that governments are under-resourced and that some are unable to properly control their institutions seriously limits the ability of many states to regulate their own territory. Priority is often given to poverty alleviation, nation building strategies or conflict resolution policies, yet combating drug trafficking and their ramified criminal networks are vital to ensuring peace and security in West Africa.

There is a need for a holistic security strategy for West African states to design and incorporate in their budgets (7) and work closely with the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and UNODC in an effort to eradicate the proliferation of such criminal networks. The control and regulation of cross border activities are critical for ensuring peace and stability, and for promoting appropriate political and socio-economic activities needed to integrate West African economies. The link between the drug trade and underdevelopment, crime, violence, and social decay cannot be ignored. It is, therefore, in the interest of the international community, and West African states in particular, to address this issue before its effects on West African security grow any worse.

Written by Nayanka Perdigao ⁽¹⁾

NOTES:

(1) Contact Nayanka Paquete Perdigao through Consultancy Africa Intelligence’s Conflict and Terrorism Unit ( conflict.terrorism@consultancyafrica.com).
(2) Traub, J., ‘Africa’s Drug Problem’, The New York Times, 9 April 2010, http://www.nytimes.com.
(3) United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) website, http://www.unodc.org.
(4) ‘WARN Policy Brief: Drug trafficking - An alarming human security threat’, West Africa Network for Peacebuilding, 12 September 2007, http://www.wanep.org.
(5) Ibid.
(6) De Andres, A.P., 2008. Organised Crime, Drug trafficking, Terrorism: The new Achilles’ heel of West Africa. UNISCI Discussion Papers, Nº. 16.
(7) Ibid.