05/25/2024 – 15:56
The African country has become a key transit hub in the global cocaine trade, even as local consumption continues to decline. Experts have warned of the implications for health, security and the economy. Senegalese customs authorities confiscated a significant amount of cocaine near the country’s border with Mali in April. Experts say this is one of many cases that highlight the region’s growing involvement in the global drug trade.
The West African country now serves as an important stopover between South America and Europe, typically the final destination for traffickers’ goods.
Despite this, cocaine consumption in the region has declined, further consolidating West Africa’s role as a transit point.
Decrease in local consumption
Cocaine use on the streets of Dakar has plummeted in recent decades, making the foreign market much more attractive to those involved in the drug trade.
Andre Correa, an independent consultant in the fight against juvenile delinquency, tells DW that “compared to the 1990s, cocaine consumption has decreased a lot, but traffic has increased”.
A former cocaine user himself, Correa added that “in the 1980s, we consumed it by snorting it and everything. Now, young people have turned it into pebbles,” he reports, referring to the crystalline form of the drug that can be smoked, also known as crack, and which offers a more intense effect. Typically, crack is more impure – therefore cheaper for many drug users.
At the height of its popularity, there were areas in Dakar, such as Medina, Grand Dakar and Parcelles Assainies, where crack smoking was common, especially at night. But these days, even this more accessible version of the highly addictive drug is no longer a common sight.
Change in regional trafficking patterns
Trafficking activities replaced local consumption patterns. And Senegal’s involvement in cocaine trafficking is just one aspect of a larger trend of extensive trafficking in the subregion, according to Amado Philip de Andres, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) representative for West and Central Africa.
“If we compare 2019 and 2024, cocaine seizures and trafficking into West Africa are clearly increasing. Guinea-Bissau is no longer the main gateway”, highlights Andres to DW.
“We saw seizures in Cape Verde, Senegal, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Ivory Coast. We have also seen an increase in cocaine trafficking to Togo and Benin.”
From 2019 to 2022, Cape Verde alone (which has a population of just around 560,000 people) witnessed the seizure of more than 17 tons of cocaine, highlighting the magnitude of the role the region plays in the global drug trade.
There has also been a significant increase in seizures along the Gulf of Guinea, with more than 10 tonnes confiscated by March 2024.
In Sahel countries such as Burkina Faso, Niger and Mali, there has also been a record increase in seizures, suggesting that these nations are now playing a significant role in smuggling cocaine into Europe.
Economic and health implications
Despite these changing trends and patterns, the drug trade also continues to have serious consequences for local populations.
Mor Gassama, an economist from Senegal, highlights the country’s role as a transit point, while also emphasizing the impact on public health and the economy.
“Traffic is extremely dense, and Dakar remains a transit zone, even if some of it is likely to be consumed on site. This is not good news, firstly, for the health of the population. Furthermore, it also promotes the circulation of illicit money,” he explains.
In response to this growing rate of drug trafficking, UNODC has been actively collaborating with member countries to improve border control measures and try to combat drug trafficking and serious crime in Africa, highlights Andrés.
But record volumes of cocaine seizures in the region continue.
#Senegal #drug #trafficking #bridge #South #America #Europe