editorial comment At last, we have found the weak link.....

Africa remains the world's weak spot in the fight against drugs because most countries on the continent lack the means to combat trafficking, the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) said in Vienna on Wednesday.

"Most countries in Africa have no adequate legislative framework and lack the necessary administrative mechanisms for the control" of drugs, which was becoming an ever bigger problem on the world's poorest continent, the INCB stated in its report for 2004.

It warned that while cannabis remains "a major issue of concern" throughout Africa, the trade in and trafficking in and abuse of cocaine, heroin and amphetamine-type stimulants was also on the rise in many countries in the region.

The INCB said in many countries in Africa that are emerging from conflict and civil strife, drug abuse was widespread, in particular among child soldiers.

The practice of injecting drugs like heroin, "could exacerbate the already severe HIV/Aids crisis in Africa," which is home to most of the world's carriers of the disease, it warned.

According to the report, the lack of adequate control measures in most African states was also facilitating the abuse of pharmaceutical drugs with mind-altering effects, which have been diverted from the proper channels.

Though drug seizures increased in 2004, notably in West Africa, the INCB implored countries in the region to "enhance their efforts to combat drug trafficking and abuse" and the international community to help it to do so.

Last year, increased vigilance and international cooperation contributed to the confiscation of several large hauls of cocaine in West Africa -- 600kg in Ghana, 450kg in Togo, 200kg in the Cabo Verde islands and 140kg in Benin, the report said. - Sapa-AFP

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