Drugs

Drug Trafficking

The UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has noted that in recent years West Africa has emerged as a key transit point for illicit drugs, in particular cocaine, from Latin American countries to Europe. Not surprisingly, drug-trafficking has also now emerged as a credible threat to the ability of countries in West Africa to maintain peace and security. This is because of the drug traders’ capacity to exploit and further undermine West Africa’s already weak governance, impede its development, and potentially, to reignite its smoldering conflicts.

Growing demand in Europe for cocaine seems to be resulting in increased shipment from South America to Europe. (A contributing factor may also be tightening enforcement and interdiction along the traditional trafficking routes to North America.) Consequently, drug traffickers seem to have turned their attention to West Africa as a transit zone for conveying a range of illicit drugs to Europe, including heroin and cocaine.

The impact of the illicit trade on the local economy can sometimes be dramatic. For example, UNODC estimated in 2008 that in Guinea-Bissau the value of cocaine transported through the country may have been greater than the entire national income.

The ECOWAS Intergovernmental Action Group Against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA) has noted that cocaine seizures in West Africa increased significantly since 2003 and 2004. The region’s trans-shipment role for heroin and especially cocaine, as well as on a smaller scale from cannabis production, have resulted in the availability in the region of new sources of revenue derived from the drug trafficking. Small aircraft and ships are mainly used to transport cocaine from Latin America to West Africa. It is then repackaged in the region and sent on, especially to Europe, primarily by carriers or (human) “mules” on commercial aircraft, but also by sea or across the Sahara desert.

Drug money was laundered in the region principally to fund the transit activity including the sustenance and expansion of drug trafficking networks, and it is also a latent source to fund violent insurrections and religious militancy. A May 2010 report by GIABA entitled Corruption–Money Laundering Nexus: An Analysis of Risks and Control Measures in West Africa, noted that there was also growing evidence of wider laundering of drug profits in the region, especially in the property market. The UNODC report also noted that the street value of cocaine passing through the region has been estimated at some $1 billion in 2009, and while it had recently noted some decrease in cocaine quantities passing through West Africa, the weakness of preventive capacity in the region ensured that this route from South America to Europe remained open and a major contributor to illegal earnings for those engaged.

Statistics seem to indicate that the recent drop in drug seizures in the sub-region reported by UNODC in 2009 and 2010 may correspond to the growing political recognition of the problem at the global level and the consequential strengthening countermeasures. On the other hand there are worries by many that reduced trafficking could be due to the fact that the networks have adopted new methods, are lying low for a season or are simply not being detected (UNODC indicated that while seizures of narcotics have decreased in the region over the past three years, the drug trade is on the increase, with traffickers resorting to more sophisticated methods, making the narcotics more difficult to intercept). However, the structural weaknesses that were exploited by the traffickers remain and are clearly a factor in the peace and security equation in the region.

A sign of another emerging threat is the appearance of reports of local consumption of cocaine in certain transit countries (e.g. Guinea-Bissau) and the emergence of related addictive behavior among sections (albeit relatively small) of local population. This has been adding a new layer to the problems that have bedeviled the sub-region.

Selected Recent Developments Relating to Drug Trafficking

The following are a few examples of some recent publicly known cases.

Between 28 May and 1 June 2010, Liberia deported seven people to the US after they were arrested for allegedly trying to ship 4,000 kilograms of cocaine there. The suspects were accused of trying to bribe key Liberian officials to facilitate large shipments of cocaine since 2007. (The deportees were subsequently charged by prosecutors in New York.)

On 8 April 2010 the US accused two high-level military officials in Guinea-Bissau, former Navy Chief Rear Admiral José Américo Bubo Na Tchuto and Air Force Chief of Staff Ibraima Papa Camara, of drug running and imposed financial sanctions and proscribed US citizens from doing business with them under the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act, commonly known as the “kingpin act.”

On 8 June 2010 Gambian authorities intercepted about two tons of cocaine bound for Europe with a street value estimated at US$1 billion, together with large quantities of cash, arms and numerous revealing computer records. Twelve suspected traffickers were arrested.

Recent Council Action Relating to Drug Trafficking

Regarding specific Council interest in the impact of transnational crime on West African and African regional peace and security, on 5 November 2009, during the Austrian presidency, the Council invited the head of UNODC to brief on the problem of illicit drug trafficking in Guinea-Bissau and the West African sub-region (S/PV.6216). He noted that while over the preceding 18 months drug seizures had dropped in the region, this trend had to be interpreted cautiously, especially since demand for cocaine persisted. The Council adopted a presidential statement reiterating the importance of consolidating democracy, security, the rule of law and national reconciliation to ensure sustainable peace in Guinea-Bissau (S/PRST/2009/29).

On 24 February 2010, at the initiative of the French presidency, the Executive Director of UNODC made a presentation to the Council in which he drew attention to the implications of transnational threats to regional and international security with a view to galvanizing political will to enhance UN capacity to prevent and control such threats. In a presidential statement that day (S/PRST/2010/4), the Security Council invited the Secretary-General to mainstream the issue of organized crime—particularly drug trafficking—into conflict-prevention strategies, conflict analysis and integrated- missions assessment and planning, as well as peacebuilding support.

Council Dynamics Relating to Drug Trafficking

In 2009 Council members seemed generally eager to articulate a collective vision of the significance of these “non-political” transnational threats to global security. However, despite the Council’s recognition of the significance of the threats posed by drug trafficking, it has been generally discussed in the context of thematic debates, with some country-specific cases only being touched on when renewing mandates or considering update reports by the Secretary-General (e.g. Guinea-Bissau).

There has been an apparent loss of momentum in highlighting the issue in recent times. This may be partly due to the fact that there is currently no country seeking to take the lead on the issue of drug trafficking, which has resulted in it receiving no direct attention since early 2010. This dynamic has been partly compounded by the fact that non- permanent Council members who took up the issue in previous years (e.g. Burkina Faso) have since completed their two-year tenure in the Council. France has been the only permanent Council member to take up the issue in recent years, as it did in the context of the briefing of the Executive Director of the UNODC in February 2010.