MINISTER OF SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT ATTENDS FIRST OAU MINISTERIAL MEETING ON DRUG TRAFFICKING IN AFRICA

Issued by: Ministry of Social Development

5 May 2002

The Minister of Social Development Dr Zola Skweyiya has left South Africa to lead a delegation attending the first OAU Ministerial Conference on drug trafficking in Africa held from the 6-11 May in the Cote D'Ivoire capital of Yammassoukro.

"This conference is very significant for our country given the vulnerability of South Africa as a young democracy to substance abuse and drug trafficking."

Desperate and unemployed South Africans are being lured by international syndicates with promises of easy money into becoming couriers abroad and in South Africa and we need to reverse that situation," said the Minister.

The South African delegation includes representatives from the South African Narcotics Bureau and the Central Drug Authority and all members states of the OAU are expected to attend.

This first Ministerial Conference is expected to discuss amongst others:

• Poverty and Drugs
• Drug Abuse and the Spread of HIV/AIDS
• Impact of Drug Abuse on Youth, women and children
• Drug control in Africa in the context of the African Union and the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD)
• The economies of drug trafficking in Africa

"The youth who are our future are the worst affected by the problem of substance abuse and the high levels of unemployment and poverty in the country further aggravate the situation.

"We therefore hope this conference will help us at a national, regional and continental level in order to reverse and eliminate this problem," further said the Minister.

The conference will also consider Africa's plan of Action and the Draft Declaration as Africa's contribution to the Ministerial segment at the 46th session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs to be held in Vienna in 2003.

Enquiries: Mbulelo Musi contactable at the President Hotel, Yammassoukro, Cote D'Ivoire at 09225