Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Madrid (Agenzia Fides)- A constant flow of cocaine from Latin America to Europe passes through west Africa. This picture emerged from an international meeting on drug trafficking being held in Madrid organised by the governments of the United States and Spain. The phenomenon is due on the one hand to a growing demand for cocaine on the part of European citizens (and a corresponding diminishing demands in the United States), on the other feeble African police forces make it easy for drug traffickers to create in west Africa “free trade areas" for their criminal activity.
The head of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration DEA said the change of route is seen by the fact that the Euro (helped also by 500 Euro notes) has replaced the dollar as the currency used by cocaine dealers. There is a progressive integration of Latin American drug cartels and criminal gangs in Africa, especially Nigerian, who have divided drug trafficking logistics. The increased availability of drugs has also created a local market. Most of the drugs which arrive in west Africa are sent to Europe but a growing part is now consumed locally. Other outlet markets are South Africa and Middle East countries. Africa's position allows the management of several routes at the same time, safe from police counter action. Besides cocaine, an increasing availability of heroine and synthetic drugs from Asia is noted. Confirmation of the global dimension reached by Africa's criminal organisations was the arrest of Nigerian drug dealers in Kabul, in Afghanistan, a country which produces 90% of the world's heroine.
In Africa we see confiscation of enormous quantities of drugs for example 600 kilos of cocaine at the beginning of the month in Mauritania. In West Africa the plague of drugs comes in addition to that of human trafficking (see Fides 11 May 2007). The G6 Home Ministers of France, Germany, Italy, Poland Spain and United Kingdom, meeting in Venice, issued a warning on drug trafficking from Africa and decided to increase aid to police forces in the region. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 12/5/2007 righe 32 parole 385)
