West African drug trade

In 2006 and 2007 Western European security officials noticed an increase in the number of cocaine seizures emmanating from Africa, particularly West Africa. The trend was linked to the increasing pressure being placed on Colombian, Peruvian and Bolivian drug cartels along their traditional Mexico-US smuggling routes by a Mexican government offensive against drug gangs and a parallel drop in demand for cocaine in the US market.

The big loser in all of this has been Africa. In post-conflict countries like Guinea Bissau, Senegal, Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone the local security officials ability to deal with technologically superior and better financed South American drug cartels has been limited. In Guinea Bissau, for example, rampant corruption within the military (which domiantes all aspects of the GB polity) has been particularly problematic. The assassination of Interior Minister and presidential candidate Baciro Dabo in June 2009 (who publicly denounced the military in 2007 for its involvement in the trade), ex-President Viera and Army chief of Staff General Waie in March 2009 and death threats against leading human rights activist Luis Vas Martins (another critic of the military) prove that the reach and influence of the cartels runs deep. Guinea Bissau also faces an internal policing problem. For example:

• Its narcotics division has only 60 members and one vehicle.
• Its navy also only has one boat to cover approximately 100 islands and islets, most of which have the capacity to hold small smuggling seaports and airports.
• The incarceration rate in the country is 6 per capita....the regional average is 38. This means that there either isnt crime or the judiciary isn't working.
• There are no prisons, only police holding cells.
• A recent Security Sector Reform initiative led by a Spanish general, Juan Esteban Verastegui, and the EU has proven unpopular with the military. The plan aims to reduce the number of units in the armed forces. As a side note the country is the most militarised per capita in the region and government spend on the military accounts for 30% of GDP.

The cartels are well aware of the weakness of West African states and have done well to infiltrate local crime networks and corrupt local police and military officials. For countries like GB the situation seems hopeless and the chronic instability the country has faced since independence is likely to continue and deepen. Neighbouring Senegal and Guinea are also likely to suffer if GB falls to the influence of the cartels who will look to destabilise regional countries to increase their market share. Cartels generally seek out areas where the economic risks of doing business are small (ie weak police force) and judicial oversight non-existent (punishment for crime is light etc). The UN, EU and US need to work together to combat the threat as local states do not have the capacity to deal with the powerful cartels alone.

To read more about the situation in West Africa, please click here.