New Democrat (Monrovia)
A. Abbas Dulleh
23 May 2011
Top US justice officials have expressed fears that corrupt African officials could undermine the global war on drug gangs and cartels increasingly infiltrating West Africa for their trade, targeting America and Europe.
The officials, including US Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, William R. Brownfield, and top-ranking officials of US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) who met President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf along with government officials on combating drug exports, said they intend to lobby African parliaments for stiffer drug laws.
Liberia’s drug laws are weak and there have been calls for stronger laws against drug traffickers but to no avail.
Speaking to journalists Friday after talks with government officials, Mr. Brownfield said, “Some of the problems can be blamed on corrupt officials.
“Leaders should ensure that there are less corrupt officials. The less corrupt you are, the less West Africa is a victim,” the US Assistant Secretary said.
He said during the delegation’s tour of West African under the initiative of the West African Citizens Security Initiative (WACSI), they told the African leaders that drug trafficking and organized crimes are direct threats to the citizenry.
Some of the seven goals of WASCI in West Africa include developing legal frameworks and enhancing tools of West Africa nations, strengthening the links between interdiction and investigation to expose and pursue criminal networks.
Others are building investigative, prosecutorial, and adjudication capacity of fighting, enhancing legitimate revenue generation for Government in the region.
The initiative also include enhancing government accountability to rule of law and the public; building government networks across borders to fight criminal networks; and fostering drug demand reduction in local population.
Assistant Secretary Brownfield said the training and technical assistance of law enforcement and security forces will be carried out to confront illicit trafficking, organized crimes, corruption, border security issues, and to disrupt criminal infrastructure.
The US, he said, will also partner with legislators and justice sector institutions to increase government accountability and strengthen transitional crimes legislation in anti-crime and asset forfeiture.
AllAfrica – All the Time
See the original article here:
Drug Wars Threatened