Cocaine Could Destabilize Guinea-Bissau

Cocaine Could Destabilize Guinea-Bissau

Saturday November 3, 2007 11:01 AM

By TODD PITMAN

Associated Press Writer

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) - Amid growing demand in Europe,
South American traffickers are moving billions of dollars
worth of cocaine through the tiny West African nation
of Guinea-Bissau, an amount so large it dwarfs all
other economic sectors combined and could destabilize
the coup-prone country, a top U.N. official said.

Guinea-Bissau's minuscule economy has traditionally been
driven by cashew, fish and peanut exports that only total
around $100 million annually. Though the country of 1.5
million people suffered a 1998-1999 civil war, rivals
there - unlike nearby resource-rich Nigeria, Liberia and
Sierra Leone - have had little to fight over. At least
until now.

“The fear is that the influx of drug money can easily
generate a situation of instability, because the appetite
among different local partners to get involved is getting
bigger and bigger,” Antonio Mazzitelli, West Africa
director of the U.N. Office of Drugs and Crime, said in
a Thursday interview. “It's no different than other wars
and conflicts in West Africa in which diamonds or oil
have created instability. It's a dangerous situation.”

Officials in Guinea-Bissau could not immediately be
reached for comment.

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