Africa Center for Strategic Studies

UN Office on Drugs and Crime, 2010. Organized crime and attendant illicit trafficking has undermined the rule of law in various regions around Africa and become both cause and symptom of instability and conflict. Efforts to confront these challenges are too often merely national or bilateral in scope, against which the transnational complexity and sophistication of criminal networks has proven very resilient. [PDF]

By Gen. (ret.) Alvaro de Souza Pinheiro.  Joint Special Operations University, 2009. Brazilian urban criminal groups are large and highly organized with sophisticated command-and-control.  In several neglected urban slums they now overshadow the state's presence and assume de facto authority over both legal and illegal activities.  Brazil’s experiences offer useful lessons as urbanization, crime, and illicit trafficking increasingly shape Africa’s security threats. [PDF]

By STRATFOR, 2008. An in-depth analysis of the history, structure, and geography of organized crime in South Africa. While cognizant of the tremendous strides the South African government has made from the apartheid days when organized crime formed a key role in many industries, the article emphasizes the continued attraction of South Africa as an attractive destination for organized crime.  [HTML]

West Africa Under Attack: Drugs, Organized Crime and Terrorism as the New Threats to Global Security. By Amado Philip de Andrés. United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 2008. The author provides an overview on the current situation in West Africa with regard to drug trafficking, organized crime (human trafficking, diamond trade and its link with terrorism financing) and terrorism. Discusses the symptoms and effects of drugs, organized crime, and terrorism in West Africa with emphasis porous borders. The article uses statistics to illustrate threats to security in West Africa and beyond.  [PDF]

The Case of Ghana. By Kwesi Aning. Global Crime, 2007. Original, thought-provoking research by the director of the Kofi Annan Peacekeeping Training Centre in Accra. The author takes an in-depth look at three types of organized crime: computer crime, drug trafficking, and weapons trafficking and presents the initial results of an empirically based KAIPTC study on these three areas in Ghana. It concludes with an engaging, well-written conclusion about how such activities potentially undermine public institutions like the police, customs, and judiciary in Ghana. Finally, it places these types of organized crime in the context of the cultural norms of a Ghanaian society that for the most part has accepted these activities due to the social welfare roles played by those involved in such crimes.  [HTML]

'Shadow Networks' and Conflict Resolution in the Great Lakes Region of Africa. By Laurence Juma. African Security Review, 2007. This paper explores the limitations of international legal regimes in combatting illicit trade networks and suggests some improvements aimed at increasing their effectiveness at reducing conflict in the region. Focuses on the case of the 'conflict network' phenomenon in the Congo War.  [HTML]