By Gumisai Mutume, United Nations Africa Renewal
In April, authorities in Guinea-Bissau seized 635 kilogrammes of cocaine, worth an estimated $50 mn. The traffickers escaped with the rest of the 2.5-tonne consignment because the police could not chase them. United Nations Office on Drug Control (UNODC) Executive Director Antonio Maria Costa commended the seizure but lamented the poor state of policing in this West African nation. “It is regrettable that the rest was not intercepted but hardly surprising as the police are woefully ill-equipped and often do not even have enough gasoline to operate their vehicles.”
The same month, the media reported that drug traffickers, made up of South American suppliers, African transporters and European distributors, were working along the Gulf of Guinea as a way of avoiding tighter policing in Europe. Guinea-Bissau is particularly vulnerable. It is still recovering from civil war. It is one of the world’s 10 poorest nations. It lacks secure prisons and adequate border patrols but it is located close to Europe and, with a porous coastline made up of a labyrinth of islands, it provides an ideal sanctuary.
Guinea-Bissau illustrates the challenges facing many poor African countries. The UNODC reports that between 2000 and 2003, African authorities seized only an average of 600 kilogrammes of cocaine per year, 0.2 per cent of the amount estimated to have been trafficked in the region during that period. Africa has only 180 police per 100,000 people, compared with 363 in Asia. Weak law enforcement, officials who are not paid enough and porous national borders in Africa provides an ideal environment for organized criminal rings.
In addition to drugs, crime syndicates are also smuggling diamonds, petrol, ivory, weapons and even human beings. Because it is illegal and often done discreetly, experts note that the extent of organized crime is hard to establish. “But international crime intelligence and seizures of contraband, suggest that Africa may have become the continent most targeted by organized crime,” according to UNODC’s 2005 report, Crime and Development in Africa. “Lack of official controls makes the continent vulnerable to money laundering and corruption activities, both of which are vital to the expansion of organized crime.”
Planners point out that organized crime threatens security of life and property, the growth of democracy and good governance and human rights. This can derail development. In turn, unbalanced development contributes to crime, resulting in a vicious cycle of poverty-crime-poverty. Crime also leads to the loss of scarce resources. Current data is scarce but in 1998, South African police estimated that the country was losing over $3 bn a year because of foreign criminal groups operating in the country.
“The loss of this money is serious because it is lost by countries which can least afford it,” says Charles Goredema of South Africa’s Institute for Security Studies. When gold and diamonds are smuggled, no taxes are paid and this deprives South Africa of funds it could use to provide basic services to its people.
Fear of crime can put off people who could invest in Africa. Despite the fact that returns are much higher than in other parts of the world, foreign investment in Africa in 2003 was only 8.7 per cent of the total $172 bn received by all developing countries combined. The reason, UNDOC states, is the perception that no rule of law prevails on the continent.
Governments can fight organized crime by strengthening domestic laws to deter criminals from using their countries as transit points. And, with assistance from the United Nations, countries such as Guinea-Bissau are strengthening their police force. But Maria Costa of UNODC says that Guinea-Bissau still needs international support so it can buy police equipment, vehicles and communications systems. “If this support is not forthcoming, I fear that honest police offices could become discouraged,” he says. “This country must not be allowed to become a narco-state.”
Christophe Compaoré, who works with the Committee Against Illicit Drug Trafficking in Burkina Faso, argues that without better regional co-operation, a drug transit route will soon open up in the west and southwest of his country. In April, police in Burkina intercepted $10 mn worth of cocaine on the border with Mali. Across West and Central Africa, governments’ response to organized crime has been limited mostly to updating national legislation so that it complies with United Nations agreements.
But, notes Antonio Mazzitelli of UNODC’s West Africa regional office, these countries need the support of regional institutions if they are to tackle the cross-border challenges effectively. In its crime fighting action plan, the African Union called for technical cooperation and donor assistance to help reduce the impact of crime and drugs on security and development in Africa, reform criminal justice systems and develop measures to prevent money laundering, corruption and drug trafficking. However, its work has been hindered by lack of funds.
Wilfred Machage, Kenya’s assistant minister of health states sums up the challenge. He notes that progress in fighting this scourge will depend on increased funding, ongoing disruption of the criminal networks, and collaboration with regional and international law enforcement agencies.