The African drugs trade

There are many commentators who say that, economically speaking, Africa is on the rise. As America’s grip on economic supremacy falters, and Europe slips further into its dotage, many African nations have been quick to help fill the vacuum. African economies – particularly those of Sub-Saharan Africa – are going from strength to strength [1]. However, there are those who are dubious about this growth. It comes, they point out, at a price – and that price often involves corruption. As African nations become richer, they also become a more viable target for international criminal organizations. We may already be seeing the beginnings of this, as more and more Western African nations fall prey to the scourge of cocaine.

THE ESTABLISHED COCAINE TRADE

Latin America has always been the hub of the world’s cocaine trade. All cocaine traded has its origins in coca leaves grown in Colombia, Bolivia, or Peru [2]. These are then processed into cocaine and traded through cartels into the rest of the world. It’s always been a relatively easy matter to get cocaine up through land-routes into North America [3], but sending the stuff over to Europe (the next biggest market for cocaine) has proven a costly business for South American cocaine barons in the past. Europe is, after all, some way away and rigorously policed. Africa has always escaped rather lightly in the international battle against cocaine. West Africa – the area most susceptible to cocaine imports from South America – has lacked the infrastructure (both human and physical) and local market potential to be a serious prospect for expansion as far as the cocaine barons are concerned. However, this is changing - and the cartels have been quick to notice.

CHANGING LANDSCAPES

Increasingly, West Africa has been attracting cocaine traffickers. In its current state, it’s a very fertile breeding ground for the cocaine trade. Its borders are not tightly guarded [4], and its security services are not trained in the art of narcotics-chasing, yet its growing economy and infrastructure provide plentiful options for the cartels. Its relative proximity to Europe is also a massive draw. West African transport and trade links to Europe are growing – but are not yet policed as harshly as they could be, and European authorities as yet do not expect major amounts of cocaine to be coming off transports from Africa. The growth of the West African economy in places is a great boon, as it means that the cocaine trade within West Africa can be relatively self-sustaining. Cartels rely on local people to do much of their work for them, and if these local people have neither the time nor the money to sample the wares of the dealers in the first place then this kind of human infrastructure can never be developed.

African society is undergoing a sea-change all over the continent, and West Africa is no exception. Partly fuelled by economic factors, and partly as a result of a changing social landscape, West African communities are no longer the tight-knit, inwards-focused entities they once were. People have more money, and are more willing to travel far from home for opportunities. This does not always work out in their favour. Forums for recovering addicts [5] are increasingly populated by West Africans who have fallen under the power of the fledgling cocaine operations on the continent.

CORRUPTION

The economic growth in West Africa is badly threatened by the cocaine trade. The power of cocaine cartels is enormous, and the scope of their business to pervert and corrupt society at every level is making itself felt. The tentative buds put out by West African economies are being savaged by the cocaine trade, and it’s an issue which threatens to plunge West Africa back to whence it came.

Perhaps one of the biggest issues is corruption. The cocaine trade is enormously lucrative, and offers potentially vast profits to those who take up its mantle. This threatens to destabilize the region. In 2013, the caretaker-President of Guinea-Bissau and several of his close affiliates were linked to a massive arms and cocaine smuggling operation [6]. Guinea-Bissau is small and impoverished, but its economy is now big enough and outwards-looking enough to be able to make use of the boost brought by cocaine cartels. Cocaine has taken over this tiny state, and admittedly has transformed it [7], but at a price. Guinea-Bissau cannot really claim to be independent – it’s controlled by outside powers. Colombian drug barons exert their own kind of colonialism over the nation. Once again, Africa is exploited by foreigners for its resources. In this case, its human resources.

Other West-African nations would do well to learn from this example, and put in place firm measures to unseat the region from its current position as a major cocaine transit hub. It is all too easy for politicians and high-ranking officials to be bought off by the enormous amounts of money offered by the cartels. But ultimately, it’s not just their blind-eyes which are being purchased – it’s African people, African resources, African safety, and African culture.

* Gemma Thomas is a freelance writer, with many years of previous experience in business and finance.

END NOTES

[1] Alexis Akwagyiram, Africa rising – but who benefits?”, BBC, Jun 2013

[2] Simeon Tegel, “Coca: The plant that feeds Peru”, The Independent, Oct 2013

[3] Fox News Latino, “Mexican drug cartels now trafficking cocaine directly from South America, Colombian police say”, Sept 2014

[4] UN, “West Africa drug trade: New transit hub for cocaine trafficking fuels corruption”.

[5] Recovery, "Forums".

[6] Rupert Cornwell, “West African leader linked to $400m cocaine smuggling ring”, The Independent, Apr 2013

[7] Ed Vulliamy, “How a tiny West African country became the world’s first narco-state”, The Guardian, Mar 2008

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