United Nations Radio

Illicit activities by organized crime from across the Atlantic and the Mediterranean are posing a serious threat to the security of West Africa, according to the head of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.

Antonio Maria Costa

Antonio Maria Costa was speaking to the press during the launch of the West Africa Coast Initiative on Wednesday.

The initiative is a coordinated approach by Mr. Costa's office together with the UN departments of political affairs and peacekeeping operations and the UN Office in West Africa to help countries in the region combat drug trafficking.

Mr. Costa said the threat to West Africa posed by organized crime is not limited to trafficking in illicit drugs such as cocaine.

"Trafficking in human beings, for example, trafficking of counterfeit drugs, a dramatic problem in some of the countries in West Africa but elsewhere as well, the trafficking of arms, the trafficking of toxic waste, the trafficking of e-waste, thousands of tons of old computers and old electronics discarded and shipped to Africa."

Mr. Costa warned that discarded computers and electronics which are simply buried in the ground with batteries they contain pose a serious threat to people's health in the region.

He said coordinated efforts to help West Africa tackle the challenges it is facing will focus on post-conflict situations in Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Cote d'Ivoire and Sierra Leone.

Diane Bailey, United Nations.

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