West Africa 2012 Amphetamine-Type Stimulants Situation Report
By UN Office on Drugs and Crime, June 2012.
Increasing evidence of amphetamines trafficking suggests that the narcotics trade in Africa continues to expand and evolve. Imported pre-cursor chemicals have been stolen in Kenya and Côte d’Ivoire; sophisticated labs have been broken up in Nigeria, Guinea, and South Africa; and numerous Africans have been arrested trafficking high-priced meth in Asia. Weak knowledge of amphetamine inputs, inconsistent reporting to regional and international bodies, and lax investigation of manufacturing has severely impeded response efforts by African authorities.
Download the article: [PDF]Termites at Work: Transnational Organized Crime and State Erosion in Kenya
By Peter Gastrow. International Peace Institute, September 2011.
For many African states, powerful transnational criminal networks constitute a direct threat to the state itself, not only through open confrontation but also by penetrating state institutions through corruption and subverting them from within. With a sharp rise in narcotics and illicit trafficking, countries risk becoming criminalized or captured states. Advanced investigative law enforcement units are needed to stem transnational crime and oversight of government agencies and regulations should be made more rigorous.
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The Global Afghan Opium Trade: A Threat Assessment
By the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, July 2011.Africa features prominently in the global heroin trade as a transshipment point and a significant consumer market. Traffic to and through the continent is dominated by Africans, who account for 50 percent of all drug arrests in Pakistan. Sharply higher traffic through African commercial air and seaports suggest a need for more robust customs regimes and stronger investigative and judicial follow through to better understand and frustrate smuggling networks.
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Cocaine and Instability in Africa: Lessons from Latin America and the Caribbean
By Davin O'Regan. Africa Center for Strategic Studies, 2010.
Africa is facing an increasingly menacing threat of cocaine trafficking that risks undermining its security structures, nascent democratic institutions, and development progress. Latin America has long faced similar challenges and its experience provides important lessons that can be applied before this expanding threat becomes more deeply entrenched on the continent - and costly to reverse.
Download the Article: [ENGLISH][FRANÇAIS][PORTUGUESE]The Invisible Tide: Towards an International Strategy to Deal with Drug Trafficking Through West Africa
By James Cockayne and Phil Williams. International Peace Institute, 2009.
Narcotics trafficking in West Africa threatens to destabilize the sub-region by corrupting its courts, barracks and other public offices. The international community can help West Africa through the UN Peacebuilding Commission and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime. Meanwhile, ECOWAS should establish a Forum on West African Drug Trafficking to facilitate information-sharing and intra-regional coordination. Download the Article: [PDF]West Africa's International Drug Trade
West Africa's International Drug Trade. By Stephen Ellis. African Affairs, 2009.
Recent large-scale hauls of Europe-bound cocaine in West Africa have prompted calls for enhanced counternarcotics efforts to stem a rising tide of destabilization. Yet sophisticated, resilient and effective West African organized crime syndicates have trafficked drugs globally for decades. Counternarcotics strategies face an entrenched threat to security rather than a new phenomenon. View the Article: [HTML]
