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From 20 to 21 April 2013, I attended the 2nd High-Level Tana Forum on Security in Africa, which was conducted under the theme: “Security and Organized Crime in Africa.” In attendance were several heads of states and former presidents, ambassadors, policy makers from regional and international organisations, activists, intellectuals and others. The […]

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Remarks at the Tana High-Level Forum on Security in Africa, Bahir Dar, Ethiopia, 20 April 2013.

The first step in mastering a problem is to understand it, and to analyze the interests and logics of those who have ready responses on offer. If Africans do not first define the question of what sort of […]

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It is devilishly difficult to accurately track and describe the international trade in narcotics. Trafficking routes emerge with startling rapidity, states alternately demonize and then decriminalize different drugs, while fickle consumers spur the development of markets for new types of narcotics overnight. The illicit organizations conducting the trade have every reason to camouflage their activities, […]

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Africa and the War on Drugs by Neil Carrier and Gernot Klantschnig is a welcome addition to the literature on this dangerous menace that is threatening Africa’s security, governance and developmental processes. The approach taken by the authors will no doubt be received as controversial and will certainly generate debate in Africa and elsewhere and […]

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In Africa and the War on Drugs, Carrier and Klantschnig provide an insightful overview of the history of African drug production, trade, consumption and policy, with a particular focus on khat and cannabis. While less informative on the history of the trade and use of heroin and cocaine, the book provides important insights into recent […]

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Recent coups in Mali and Guinea-Bissau have caused quite widespread alarm, certainly in Africa and among Africa-watchers elsewhere.  In both Mali and Guinea-Bissau the existence of a lucrative cocaine trade is an element in the political equation.  Guinea-Bissau has confirmed its reputation of being a so-called ‘narco-state’, in which groups financed by the drug trade […]

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