Binneh Minteh

Perils of Drugs in West Africa: Impact on Democracy, Governance, Economic Development, Transnational Terrorism, the Youth and Society Binneh Minteh

Since a 2007 United Nations report cited West Africa as the new front for cocaine trafficking by South American Drug Barons, media reports have linked several governments to the trade. Some analysts linked political instability in a few West African countries to the cocaine trade as root causes. Proliferation of banks and the flow of excess capital from unknown horizons sounded the alarm on trafficking in drugs as fundamental driving mechanisms. In spite of regional efforts confronting the trade,seizures of large amounts of cocaine in Senegal, Mauritania, Mali, Ghana, Guinea and Guinea-Bissau brought to light compelling realities of the drug trade as West Africa?s newest peripheral vulnerability. The book distinctly argues that infiltration of the region by drug syndicates poses a real challenge to democracy and the rule of law, governance and progressive economic sustainability, fabrics of West African communities and plight of the West African Youth. It also theorizes the linkages of the trade to Transnational Terrorism. Policy measures provided should therefore help West African governments to work in partnerships with international partners in confronting the drug trade.