Money laundering and political instability

Cocaine introduced in West Africa is not fully conveyed to Europe. According to a UNODC report, some remains in the region. The agency cites as evidence the increase in the proportion of treatment demand for cocaine use in centers specialized in the sub-region (5% in Burkina, 2% in Senegal, for example). Another perverse effect, trafficking cocaine may also cause an influx of unexplained currency – injected into the economy chain – whose effects are immediate appreciation of the value of local currency. “Exports will be penalized because they become more expensive for foreign buyers,” warns the UNODC. Another effect, the sudden surge in foreign direct investment: this was the case in Guinea-Bissau in 2006, when the country has suddenly attracted 42 million dollars. In the opinion of many observers, this money would come largely from drug trafficking.
The corruption that is associated with the cocaine trade also threatens good governance and public policy”, and could fuel conflict in the sub region. We know that drugs have often financed the purchase of weapons or leveraged fighters getting younger, as was the case in Liberia. Worse, as the representative of UNODC in West Africa voiced, drug traffickers can be brought to foment armed rebellion, or simply to organize coups to establish systems acquired to their cause.
In February 2010 , Antonio Maria Costa , UNODC Executive Director , has called for more intelligence-sharing and vigilance to fill the “black holes” where criminals operate with impunity. He highlighted the recent discovery of a fleet of cargo planes bringing cocaine into West Africa and the Sahel. “What is shocking is that most major discoveries of illicit activity are being made by accident”; He also said: “When police stop at borders while criminals cross them freely, sovereignty is already breached – it is surrendered to those who break the law”, To illustrate the massive profits made by crime, he said: “One line of cocaine snorted in Europe kills one square meter of Andean rainforest and buys 100 rounds of AK-47 ammunition in West Africa.    Multiply this by 850 tons of cocaine per year and you see that is a bigger mismatch than David versus Goliath”.

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