Guinean junta warns of invasion, blames cartels

Republished with permission from Friends of Guinea blog

The Guinean military regime has put the armed forces on high alert after claiming to have uncovered a plot to attack the country.

An announcement on state-run national radio said drugs cartels were believed to be behind the plans.

Cocaine cartels have essentially taken over the neighboring Republic of Guinea-Bissau, however the junta in Conakry said that armed men were also amassing along the borders in Senegal and Liberia.

"The ministry of defence was informed by the security services and other credible sources of the preparation of an armed attack on Guinea from its borders with Guinea-Bissau and the region of Casamance [in Senegal]," said a Guinean government statement. "These sources have also indicated that there are armed men regrouping on the border with Guinea Bissau to the north and the town of Foya to the south on the border with Liberia."

The governments of Guinea-Bissau, Senegal and Liberia denied that there were any armed groups along their borders with Guinea.

Update: Guinéenews reports that the African Union has criticized the invasion claims of the Guinean junta and described the CNDD's actions as a 'diversion.' An AU spokesman charged the CNDD with seeking pretexts to postpone the elections scheduled for the end of the year. Radio France Internationale's Afrique Soir program reports that head of state Capt. Moussa Dadis Camara threatened to arrest anyone contradicting the CNDD's claims and spreading 'disinformation.' Guinéenews pointed out that the forest region of Guinea was the victim of an incursion from rebels based in Liberia in 2000 which caused hundreds of deaths and serious destruction.

80 percent of Guineans in uniform 'living off drug money'

Editor's note: Reprinted with permission from Friends of Guinea blog


Guinea-Bissau, where the president and army chief were recently assassinated, has often been described as Africa's first narcostate. There are increasing fears that neighboring Guinea is becoming the second.

Last month, several senior police officials along with the son of the late Gen. Lansana Conté were arrested on allegations of collaboration with South American cocaine cartels.

This Associated Press article shares details of Ousmane Conté's confession and the troubling admissions contained therein.

A junior police officer claimed "Eighty percent of the men in uniform lived off of" drug money.

Some snipets from the AP piece:

When planes loaded with cocaine arrived, Guinea's presidential guard secured the cargo. Drug deals were conducted inside the first lady's private residence and in the president's VIP salon at the airport. To avoid detection, cocaine was sent to Europe in the country's diplomatic pouch.


[...]

The confessions [of Ousmane Conté and other former top officials] paint a picture of an illicit trade conducted with total impunity, with the help of officials, members of the president's family and security forces. They also show the large role Guinea and other West African countries are playing as drug hubs, and how vulnerable they are to the corrupting influence of drug dollars.

[...]

The inner circle of former dictator Lansana Conté, who ruled Guinea for 24 years until his death, was deeply corrupt, with officials driving opulent SUVs in a capital where most people live without electricity.

[...]

In a jailhouse interview this week with The Associated Press, [Ousmane] Conté explained how he did it. He said a friend brought in "medicine" for his humanitarian foundation, using a Red Cross plane that landed at night at the international airport in the capital, Conakry. When the plane arrived, his friend called to wake him. Conté then went to the airport accompanied by the presidential guard to secure the cargo, he said.

Conté claimed he did not know at first that the cargo contained cocaine. But his friend later told him, he said, and Conte accepted a $300,000 bribe.

[...]

The late president's brother-in-law said he met with Latin American drug dealers inside a villa owned by his sister, the former first lady. The head of the country's intelligence unit said he personally accompanied a convoy of trucks containing drugs to the capital. The former head of the police force was challenged to account for the source of funds for a university he is building.

Even the former head of the country's anti-drug unit was interrogated on state TV for his alleged role. The unit was in charge of seizing drugs when a cache was found. But instead of securing and destroying the drugs, the cocaine was often "recycled," said top police officials and foreign diplomats.

Guinea-Bissau president, army chief assassinated; private broadcasters silenced

The Guinea-Bissau army has claimed it's not seeking power following the assassination of the country's president Joao Bernardo Vieira by members of the military. Earlier the same day, the army chief of staff, a rival of the president, was also slain. Observers believe Vieira's murder was in retaliation for the earlier killing.

The West African regional group ECOWAS is holding an emergency summit on the Guinea-Bissau crisis. African and Portugese diplomats flew into Bissau today to try to head off a possible military coup.

"The African Union appeals urgently to the political parties and actors of this country to exercise restraint and refrain from plunging the country once again into a spiral of power struggle," said a statement from the continental body.

Guinea-Bissau has been virtually taken over by cocaine traffickers, who use the country as a transit point between South America and Europe. It has been described as Africa's first narco-state and regional observers fear that cartels will overwhelm other West African countries with weak state institutions. In neighboring Guinea, the son of the country's late dictator (a long-time ally of Vieira) as well as several senior police officials were recently arrested on drugs trafficking charges.

I've seen nothing yet to suggest that the drugs barons were implicated in either assassination but the resulting power vacuum is sure to embolden them ever further.

The constitution, if respected, stipulates that the parliamentary speaker becomes acting president and must organize elections within 60 days.

Update: The army chief was killed by a remote-controlled bomb. Analysts have noted that this means of assassination is almost unheard of in Africa but very common in Latin America, which leads one to suspect the cocaine cartels.

Further update: Radio Netherlands Worldwide's Media Network is reporting that the all of Guinea-Bissau's privately-owned radio stations have been ordered to cease broadcasting. RNW quoted Media Foundation for West Africa's correspondent in the country as saying that the radio stations were ordered to cease broadcasting because they could spread false information about the mutiny. However, Samuel Fernandes, the army spokesman told the BBC that the closure was to ensure the security and safety of the journalists.

Cocaine trafficking in West Africa approaching crisis point?

Friends of Guinea blog has a piece on the drugs' cartels invasion of West Africa. Reprinted with permission.


The Washington Post has an article by the executive director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime on a problem that's causing increasing concern: drugs trafficking in West Africa.

The sub-region has become a major transit point for cocaine smuggling between Latin America and Europe. Originally, activity was centered in Guinea-Bissau, a borderline failed state that has been without a strong central government for a decade.

However, The Post's article reports that the cartels are threatening to branch out into Guinea and Sierra Leone.

Last month alone, more than 600 kilos [of cocaine] were seized in a plane with fake Red Cross markings at the airport in Freetown, Sierra Leone, and at the international airport in Bissau, several hundred boxes were unloaded from a jet.

It notes that fighting this problem will be difficult.

Poverty is the biggest problem. These countries are the worst performers on the human development index -- their populations at the bottom of the "bottom billion." Unemployed and desperate youths are vulnerable to being recruited as foot soldiers for criminal groups. West African countries must take control of their coasts and airspace. This requires hardware (boats, planes and radar), know-how (investigative techniques and container security) and counter-narcotics intelligence. Some of these capabilities can be developed nationally, but some assistance will have to come from abroad.

Another obstacle is those countries' public institutions, which are weak and plagued by corruption.

TIME also ran a piece on Guinea-Bissau becoming West Africa's first narco-state as did the UK Independent. A Russian news site reported on the seizure of a ship ferrying a huge load of cocaine of the coast of Conakry earlier this year. The UN's Office on Drugs and Crime has a thorough report on the West African cocaine trafficking problem.

How Guinea-Bissau became a narco-state

The BBC World Service has a good documentary explaining how the small West African state of Guinea-Bissau has become the central transit point for South American drugs traffickers ferrying their poison to Europe. And how these crime lords are taking over the country.

The country is hurt by its geography. The islands of Guinea-Bissau cover more territory than the mainland.

It's also hurt by its infrastructure that was neglected for decades... and what little that was left was destroyed during the late 90s civil war. In addition to having a barely functioning, understaffed, underresourced government, the country doesn't have a prison, according to the BBC.

No wonder it's considered an ideal location for gangsters.

Guinea-Bissau to shoot down drug planes

I wrote earlier about how Guinea-Bissau might become Africa's first narco-state. The government has responded by promising to shoot down suspected drug planes that enter the country's airspace.

How much of a deterrent this will represent is open to question. BBC West Africa correspondent Will Ross says it is clear that the very people who should be countering it have been involved. Earlier this year a consignment of over 2.5 tonnes of cocaine was flown into a military airstrip. Two soldiers were later arrested in cars which had been packed with over 600kg (over 1300 lbs) of cocaine.

Drugs trafficking hits West Africa

It's no secret that failed states or countries with weak central authority are often havens for criminality, both internal and international. According to the Council on Foreign Relations, Guinea-Bissau has already become a haven for drug traffickers and risks becoming West Africa's first narco-state.

Since 1998, the country has suffered from coups, civil wars, military mutinies and general political instability.

The CFR reports: Western officials estimate $150 million of cocaine flows into Guinea-Bissau per month from Latin America, equal to the country’s annual gross domestic product.

According to the Voice of America, the United Nations' special representative for West Africa also cites Niger, Mauritania and Burkina Faso as other hubs for drugs' smugglers.