United Nation Estimates Drug Trafficking in West and Central Africa to Generate $900M Annually

The United Nation Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), estimates that cocaine trafficking is generating an enormous amount in drug trafficking to West and Central America and are then using the shortest route to Europe to transport them. The U.N. Security Council was recently told by the UNODC that West Africa is seeing a large increase in arms and human trafficking as well as piracy.

According to the Washington Post, the transit route fulfills a cocaine market in Europe that has grown four fold in the past few years and reaches an amount almost equal to ours in the United States. In 2009, the figure was at $800 million and so it is obvious that illegal drug use is growing rapidly in this West and Central African region. There are now an estimated 2.5 million drug users in this area.

There is definite concern about the growing instability in West Africa and the other central regions towards the north as there is rise in drug trafficking, organized crime and piracy. There is further an increasing food crisis and a sudden influx in weapons from the Libyan upheaval.

There are also reported connections between criminal and insurgent groups and also terrorist organizations. Leaders in the area are greatly concerned about these alliances and recognize the potential they have to create more havoc in the region and reverse the hard work they’ve achieved towards democracy and peace building success.

The council has discovered that terrorist groups, like al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, have started to join forces with drug traffickers and other criminal groups.

The fallout from Libya has only led to the radicalization of these rebel groups and caused a resurgence in forms of criminal activity that are clearly coordinated by such terrorist and criminal groups.