BENIN: Bulldozers to clear out drug-infested areas


Friends,
If you want to write to the Benin Embassy in
Washington, their contact information is here:
http://www.beninembassy.us/index1.php .  This has
to be one of the more horrific cases of collective punishment in the drug war!
-Sanho
--

BENIN: Bulldozers to clear out drug-infested areas
From: IRIN
Monday, March 23, 2009 4:03 PM
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

COTONOU, 23 March 2009 (IRIN) - Bulldozers will soon raze
sections of 20 neighbourhoods of Benin's economic capital,
Cotonou, that officials say have become overrun with drugs.

"They [drug traffickers] bring the drugs in from surrounding
countries and sell this on the local market," said police
commissioner Achille Blochaou from the Wlacodjni district. From
10 to 12 March, dozens of officers carried out raids that netted
a total of 50 kg of cannabis and led to 45 arrests in his
district.

Blochaou told IRIN police will soon follow up with a more
destructive sweep called "Cleaning out Placodji," named for the
economically destitute area the commissioner said has become a
drug haven in Cotonou.

When asked how authorities will spare and protect residents in
those neighbourhoods who are not involved in the drug trade, the
commissioner told IRIN: "We will carefully target the places we
tear down. Innocent law-abiding citizens will not be caught in
this campaign."

Blochaou said there are approximately 10,000 people who live in
the high-risk drug zones that are targeted. "That is where there
are the most problems. It is where you have all the stories of
beatings and injuries," said the commissioner. "The violence is
daily"

Cannabis

While the UN estimates some 40 metric tonnes of cocaine are
transited through West Africa en route to northern Africa and
Europe every year, it has said cannabis has more of a home-grown
market: more than two-thirds of Africa's drug treatment cases in
recent years have been for cannabis, according to the United
Nations Office on Drugs and Crime's 2008 World Drug Report.

Law enforcement agencies throughout West Africa have noted that
farmers faced with declining profits have turned to quick cash
from clandestine cannabis farming.

Of an estimated 42,000 metric tonnes of cannabis grown worldwide
in 2006 - sold as marijuana or hashish - 25 percent was grown in
Africa where it is the most common drug of abuse and cultivation,
according to the most recent UN World Drug Report.

In recent years non-profits have said the focus on reducing
supply has overshadowed rising local demand. The Economic
Community of West African States pledged its commitment in
October 2008 during a regional conference on fighting drug
trafficking in the region to increase detoxification programmes
and HIV prevention services to a growing numbers of drug abusers.

Benin's police commissioner Blochaou told IRIN his department
will not be defeated by mafia elements of drug rings. "We
mobilised 150 police and military police [during the March raids]
and disbanded their [drug criminals'] ranks. These were the
people who had sown terror through their power."

The coastal country has been riddled with corruption in its
highest ranks, with its top drug crimes investigator sacked in a
2007 corruption probe. His replacement at Benin's Office for the
Control of Illicit Traffic of Drugs (OCERTID), Bertin Adanlè,
told IRIN last October that his first priority was to hire
top-notch "morally fit" crime fighters.
--

Try IRIN for Mobiles, iPhones and PDAs: http://m.irinnews.org

© IRIN. Drug Abuse & Addiction, Detoxification, Treatment, Opiate Withdrawal. Substance Abuse: Heroin, Cocaine, Marijuana, Crystal meth, Vicodin, OxyContin, Amphetamines, Percocet and others.
All Rights Reserved. More humanitarian news and analysis:
[This item comes to you via IRIN, the humanitarian news and
analysis service of the UN Office for the Coordination of
Humanitarian Affairs. The opinions expressed do not necessarily
reflect those of the United Nations or its Member States.
Reposting or reproduction, with attribution, for non-commercial
purposes is permitted.
Terms and conditions: http://www.irinnews.org/copyright.aspx

Principal IRIN donors: Australia, Canada, Denmark, EC, Japan,
Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, the UK, and the USA.
More information: http://www.irinnews.org/donors.aspx

This comes from a non-reply e-mail address.
Contact IRIN at: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
Update or stop your subscription here: http://www.irinnews.org/subscriptions