‘West Africa at risk from Latin American gangs’

Nigeria and some other countries on the west coast of Africa are at the danger of having their stability and economy disrupted by the infiltration of their leadership by agents of South American drug dealers, a recent study by the Coalition for Dialogue on Africa (CoDA) has shown.

The group said the rule of law, economy and body politic are seriously being hindered by the growing power and influence of transnational criminal networks operating out of Latin America. Other countries said to be at risk are Ghana and Senegal.

In countries like Guinea-Bissau as well as Guinea Conakry, the polity has been entirely taken over by agents of the drug dealers, and the phenomenon is on a rapid spread to other West African countries, CoDA said. The group said these international gangs have penetrated court Judges, the army and police, customs, politicians and top government officials in some West African countries.

An invisible tide

James Cockayne, a senior associate at the International Peace Institute (IPU) who has studied the trend, described the proliferation of these criminal gangs in West Africa as an “invisible tide” which he said is creeping into the region’s slums, banks, courts, barracks and government ministries.

“It is a tide of money, influence and power born from the drug trafficking that is sweeping the region,” Mr. Cockayne said.

West Africa is described as a growing transit route for drugs and illicit arms across the world because of its peculiar geography and weak governance. Its coastal border to the south and the Sahel to the north makes it suitable for drugs and illicit arms originating from South America and travelling to Europe.

Last week, the Coalition for Dialogue on Africa (CoDA), in partnership with the UN Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Commission, convened a seminar in Abuja, Nigeria, to discuss the threat and options for tackling it.

“The easy access of the West African coast, coupled with weak indigenous maritime security, means that the gulf has become the popular transit zone for the Latin American narco-cartels and their local accomplices seeking less protected routes into Europe and US for their deadly merchandise,” Abdel-Fatau Musah, director of political affairs of the ECOWAS commission, said.

The cancer spreads

According to Aboulaye Bathily of CoDa, the countries most infiltrated by these criminal gangs are Guinea Bissau, Guinea Conakry and, some time ago, Liberia.

“It is a cancerous phenomenon,” Mr. Bathily said. “If not quickly checked, someday, criminal gangs will take over the entire polity and economy of West Africa and there will be a resultant anarchy.

Even though West Africa is just a transit domain for these drugs and illicit arms, the formation of these criminal gangs in the region has great effect on the governance because of poor quality of leadership, low value for humanity and devastating poverty rate in West Africa.

Besides the influence on government structure, the growing population of youth in West African nations indulging in drug consumption as well as those on the payroll of transnational criminal networks is steadily on the rise. Participants therefore recommended that ECOWAS should involve governments of European and South/North American countries to tackle the issue.

“Drug traffickers are far ahead of ECOWAS, which is just mapping out strategies on paper,” Al Hassan Sillah, a participant, said.