Sierra Leone: Cocaine - Should Africom Come?

Posted to the web 21 July 2008 Bhoyy Jalloh Freetown Since West Africa started grappling with the irregular trafficking in minute amount of cocaine across its extended borders, the recent seizure of about 700kg of the substance in Sierra Leone, is the largest to be confiscated in the country. The biggest seizure in the continent was in 2006: one in Ghana (1.9 mt) and one Guinea-Bissau (0.6 mt) which accounted for 90% of all seizures reported so far on the continent. The Sierra Leone consignment, said to be worth between $60 million and $100 million on the streets by drug valuers, depending on the sophistication of the environment, is enough to control Sierra Leone economy for at least a year- or more. In the UNDP's Human Development Index (HDI), Sierra Leone is ranked 177th out of 177 countries, just two steps behind Guinea... [read full story]