*** 22-Feb-2* ***
Title: POLITICS: UN Draws Link Between Drugs and Civil Wars in
Africa
By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS, Feb 23 (IPS) - The United Nations has
uncovered a troubling - and growing - relationship between illegal
drugs and the civil wars in politically-troubled Sub-Saharan Africa.
The Vienna-based International Narcotics Control Board (INCB)
says that trafficking in and abuse of narcotic drugs and
psychotropic substances are increasingly being linked to the
various civil conflicts in Africa.
In the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Liberia, for
example, child soldiers were provided with drugs in order to
induce them to carry out dangerous operations without fear.
The Board also says that the ongoing civil wars and post-conflict
situations that prevail in several African countries are conducive to
increasing drug problems among children and youth in particular.
The Board, whose 13 members are elected by the UN's Economic
and Social Council (ECOSOC), points out that illicit drugs are also
being used to finance civil wars in Africa and the purchase of
arms, as was the case in Angola and Rwanda.
Urging African governments to increase their efforts to
integrate a drug control component into their post-war
reconstruction programmes, the Board says that in many African
countries, seized drugs disappear and known drug traffickers are
acquitted frequently or, when released on bail, never show up for
trial.
In its annual report released Wednesday, the Board also draws
a link between narcotics drugs and the spread of the deadly
disease, acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS).
A high rate of infection and a relatively large number of cases
involving AIDS are reported in many countries in Africa.
The study also said that while the leading cause of AIDS
transmission is unprotected sex, often in combination with alcohol
abuse or the consumption of illicit drugs, there are suggestions
that increasing rates of IV drug use - mainly heroin, but also
other substances - may be exacerbating the situation.
Orphans and street children in Africa, whose numbers are
swelling, are said to be most vulnerable to illicit drug
trafficking activities and substance abuse.
According to the report, Western and Southern Africa have
emerged as important areas both in terms of the trans-shipment of
illicit drug consignments, and as growing consumers of cocaine and
heroin.
The main drug being trafficked and abused in Africa is cannabis,
although methaqualone trafficking and abuse are serious problems
in the eastern and southern parts of the region.
In Central America and the Caribbean, on the other hand, the
Board is concerned about the increasingly liberal approach of some
governments to the offshore banking and gambling industries.
These industries, the report said, have the potential for abuse
by persons who engage in money laundering.
The Board said that the proposed establishment of a stock
exchange for the eastern Caribbean may also present opportunities
for money laundering.
In Latin America, the Board singled out Bolivia as having
achieved exceptional results so far in its programme to eradicate
illicit coca bush cultivation.
"The government of Bolivia deserves the recognition of the
international community for the political will that it has shown
and the financial, technical and human resources that it has
invested in its coca bush eradication efforts," the report said.
In Asia, there was a major reduction in the total area under
illicit opium poppy cultivation last year, particularly in Laos,
Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam.
The study said that Malaysia, China, and Thailand still remain
important illicit markets for heroin and also serve as transit
points for heroin destined for markets in other parts of East and
Southeast Asia, North America and the Pacific islands known as
Oceania.
"The abuses of opiates by injection continues to contribute to
increases in the prevalence of human immunodefiency virus (HIV)
infection (that causes AIDS) in Myanmar and Vietnam, as well as in
some other countries in East and Southeast Asia", the study said.
In South Asia, however, there has been a rise in drug abuse
primarily because the region is home to the world's two main
opiate-producing countries, namely Afghanistan and Myanmar.
The traffic in drugs has led to a rise in drug abuse in South
Asia - a region which has millions of drug abusers.
The study also said that the commitment of the fundamentalist
Islamic Taliban government in Afghanistan to ban opium poppy
cultivation and heroin manufacture "remains questionable" as it
continues to collect taxes on the opium poppy harvest and
subsequent heroin that is manufactured.
According to the latest survey, about 97 percent of the area
under opium poppy cultivation was on territory controlled by the
Taliban.
Heroin manufacture has moved to Afghanistan from Pakistan,
where it has virtually disappeared.
The Board said it was concerned about this "grave situation,"
which negatively affects not only West Asia but also Europe and
the rest of the world. And it urges the world community to take
appropriate measures to eliminate the scourge of drug abuse.
(END/IPS/IP/td/ks/00)
Origin: Rome/POLITICS/
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[c] 2000, InterPress Third World News Agency (IPS)
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