Guinea-Bissau Battles Drug Barons with Little Hope

As reported earlier, narcotic trade in Guinea-Bissau is getting out of hand, and the nation’s struggle against the drug barons who have hijacked and using it as a global narcotics clearing-house appears futile: its Guinea Bissau’s law enforcement agents are handicapped and utterly overwhelmed, after decades of warfare and political instability. VOA reveals:

He [the undercover agent] says that they are so covert, they have no weapons. He says they have no handcuffs, or phones that can make international phone calls. Energy is scarce and there is no electricity after 4:00 in the afternoon. The National Police has just one truck.

Francisco [the undercover agent] says if an informant calls him, he needs to find a taxi cab or rental car to follow the tip.

Several weeks ago, Francisco says his team received a tip a small plane had made an unauthorized landing. The police truck was available, he says, but there was no gas. The director of the police loaned her personal car, but by the time the team reached the site, the plane was gone…

Undercover investigator Francisco says it is hard to compete with drug traffickers. He says the wholesale value of 2.5 tons of cocaine in Europe is equal to the 2006 annual budget of Guinea-Bissau, about $125 million.

It appears very few - if any - option exist for Guinea-Bissau to rid its borders of drug barons on its own. The economy remains weak and the government has not been able to pay its employees for months.

ECOWAS the regional economic umbrella group of west African states appears indifferent to the plight of the West African nation; African Union, it appears all its resources are tied to Sudan and Somali and Congo?

Will Guinea-Bissau be a good study case for AFRICOM - the much-discussed US military command for Africa? After all, a good chunk of the drugs been distributed in the Bissau finds its way to American consumers. I think so.

(Image: Guinea Bissau harbor by Horcape/Flickr),