VZCZCXRO5950
RR RUEHMA RUEHPA
DE RUEHDK #2717/01 3170829
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 130829Z NOV 06
FM AMEMBASSY DAKAR
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 6848
INFO RUEAWJA/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHDC
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC
RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 DAKAR 002717 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR INL, AF/RSA, AF/W AND INR/AA 
JUSTICE FOR OIA, AFMLS AND NDDS 
TREASURY FOR FINCEN 
DEA FOR OILS AND OFFICE OF DIVERSION CONTROL 
LAGOS FOR DEA 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: SNAR SG
SUBJECT: SENEGAL: 2006 INTERNATIONAL NARCOTICS CONTROL 
STRATEGY REPORT (INCSR), PART I, DRUGS AND CHEMICAL 
CONTROL 
 
REF: STATE 154898 
 
Below is Part I, Drugs and Chemical Control, of the 2006 
INSCR for Senegal.  The text is keyed to the format 
provided in reftel. 
 
¶I.  SUMMARY 
----------- 
¶1.  Counter-narcotics elements of the Senegalese government remain 
concerned about the production and trafficking of cannabis, and to a 
lesser degree, hashish. Increasingly, quantities of cocaine are 
being seized; heroin seizures are rare.  Senegal's 2005 money 
laundering statute and the establishment of a financial intelligence 
unit has had a limited impact.  Senegalese authorities have been 
under pressure from European nations to curtail illegal immigration 
to the EU and bilateral assistance to combat immigration may also 
inhibit narcotics trafficking.  Education and strict enforcement of 
drug laws remain cornerstones of Senegal's counter-narcotics goals. 
Senegal is a party to the 1988 UN Drug Convention. 
 
II.  STATUS OF COUNTRY 
---------------------- 
¶2.  While trafficking of all types of drugs, including heroin, 
cocaine and psychotropic depressants, exists in Senegal, cannabis 
production and trafficking continued to resist most enforcement 
efforts.  Southern Senegal's Casamance region is at the center of 
the cannabis trade.  It is generally acknowledged that a portion of 
agricultural development is illicit cannabis cultivation.  Police 
are reluctant to undertake greater enforcement efforts against 
cannabis cultivation in the Casamance for fear of hampering the 
ongoing efforts to establish peace. 
 
¶3.  Senegal also serves as a transit country for traffickers due to 
its location, infrastructure and porous borders.  During 2006, 
authorities interdicted a container of more than eight tons of 
hashish en route from Pakistan to Europe.  Additionally, there is 
evidence that cocaine originating from South America is increasingly 
transiting Senegal en route to Europe.  Senegalese, European and UN 
Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC) efforts to tighten security at the 
maritime port are still in the development phase.  In general, drug 
enforcement efforts remain under-funded and undermanned, allowing 
the illegal cannabis trade and trafficking to continue unabated. 
 
III.  COUNTRY ACTIONS AGAINST DRUGS IN 2006 
------------------------------------------- 
¶4.  Policy Initiatives:  Senegal developed a national plan of action 
against drug abuse and the trafficking of drugs in 1997. 
Multidisciplinary in its approach, Senegal's national plan includes 
programs to control the cultivation, production and traffic of 
drugs; inform the population of the dangers of drug use; and 
reintroduce former drug addicts into society.  Full implementation 
of this plan again remains stalled due to funding constraints. 
Periodic efforts to improve coordination have been hampered because 
of insufficient funding.  The Senegalese National Assembly in recent 
years passed a uniform common law and issued a decree against money 
laundering. 
 
¶5.  Accomplishments:  The amount of hard drugs seized by police in 
Senegal is small by international standards.  Due to weak 
enforcement efforts and inadequate record keeping, it is difficult 
to assess accurately the real drug problem in the country.  Police 
lack the training and equipment to detect drug smuggling. 
Historically, Senegal has undertaken few cannabis eradication 
efforts.  As previously mentioned, police forces are constrained in 
their efforts to eradicate cannabis cultivation in the southern part 
of the country because of a long-term insurgency.  Meetings have 
been organized with island populations in the south in accordance 
with the U.N. Program for International Control of Drugs to promote 
substitution of cannabis cultivation with that of other crops. 
 
¶6.  Law Enforcement Efforts:  Although no significant changes were 
made to law enforcement strategies, "L'Office central de repression 
du traffic-illicite de stupefiants" (OCRTIS) seized more that eight 
tons of hashish destined for Europe from Pakistan in a single 
seizure in mid-2006.  Dakar's position on the west coast of Africa 
and the presence of an international airport and seaport make it an 
enticing transit point for drug dealers.  The Port of Dakar and the 
Leopold Sedar Senghor International Airport are the two primary 
points of entry/exit of drugs in Senegal.  An increasing amount of 
narcotics, often cocaine, is being brought to Senegal by vehicle and 
boat from Guinea Bissau. 
 
¶7.  Given limitations on funding, training and policy, there is only 
 
DAKAR 00002717  002 OF 003 
 
 
limited ability to guard Senegal's points of entry from the 
transiting of drugs through Dakar.  The international airport has 
drug enforcement agents present, but they lack the training and 
equipment to systematically detect illegal drugs.  The airport 
authority's efforts to attain Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) 
Category One certification have resulted in the tightening of 
security procedures and more thorough passenger luggage screening. 
Presumably, this has had the positive outcome of discouraging drug 
trafficking through the airport.  UNODC is developing a multi-agency 
program (Customs, Gendarmes and Ministry of Interior Police) for 
screening and controlling container shipments.  Although the USG 
sponsored the establishment of a Financial Intelligence Unit, with 
an in-country U.S. Treasury Department advisor, the unit has not 
been directed against traffickers.  European efforts to combat 
illegal immigration, particularly to Spain, which has provided 
maritime patrol capabilities, may also serve to inhibit the 
trafficking of narcotics. 
 
¶8.  Corruption:  Corruption is a problem for narcotics law 
enforcement all over Africa, but the USG is unaware of any 
narcotics-related corruption at senior levels of the Senegalese 
government.  In 2004, the National Commission against 
Non-Transparency, Corruption and Misappropriation of Funds, an 
autonomous investigative panel, was created.  The efficiency of the 
commission's efforts remains to be seen.  The GOS does not, as a 
matter of government policy, encourage or facilitate illicit 
production or distribution of narcotic or psychotropic drugs or 
other controlled substances, or the laundering of proceeds from 
illegal drug transactions.  No senior GOS officials engage in, 
encourage or facilitate the illicit production or distribution of 
such drugs or substances, or the laundering of proceeds from illegal 
drug transactions. 
 
¶9.  Agreements and Treaties:  Senegal has several bilateral 
agreements with neighboring countries to combat narcotics 
trafficking, and has signed mutual legal assistance agreements with 
the United Kingdom and France in efforts to combat narcotics 
trafficking.  Through cooperation with other members of the West 
African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU or UEMOA), a uniform 
common law against money laundering exists.  Senegal is also a party 
to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) protocol 
agreement, which includes an extradition provision.  Traffickers and 
their organizations are subject to asset seizures, imprisonment and 
permanent exclusion from Senegal if convicted.  Senegal is a party 
to the 1988 UN Drug Convention, the 1971 UN Convention on 
Psychotropic Substances, and the 1961 UN Single Convention on 
Narcotic Drugs, as amended by the 1972 Protocol. 
 
¶10.  Cultivation/Production:  Although cannabis cultivation in 
Senegal is not a large problem in relation to global rates of 
cultivation, it could become a serious internal drug problem for 
Senegal.  Efforts to eradicate cannabis cultivation in the Casamance 
region have improved slightly as military forces increased their 
presence and activities during the year. 
 
¶11.  Drug Flow/Transit:  According to the Chief of the Office 
Central de Repression du Trafic Illicite (OCRTIS), the trend in the 
amount of illicit drugs transiting through Senegal continues to 
increase.  OCRTIS is monitoring the transshipment of hashish and 
cocaine through Senegal.  The U.S. is not a destination point for 
these drugs. 
 
¶12.  Domestic Programs:  There is no comprehensive GOS policy for 
systematic destruction of domestic cannabis or prevention of 
transshipment of harder drugs.  Enforcement efforts are sporadic and 
uncoordinated.  NGOs, such as the Observatoire Geostrategique des 
Drogues et de la Deviance (OGDD), have taken the lead in public 
education efforts.  OGDD continued a program that began in 2001. The 
first phase involved a campaign of information targeted at cannabis 
cultivators, arguing that the land had greater potential if it were 
used for purposes other than drugs, that drugs were bad for the 
environment and health, and that drugs were degrading the economy. 
Village committees have been established to convey the above 
information to sensitize people to the problems associated with drug 
use.  The focus of the second phase of the program is to encourage 
farmers to substitute alternative crops for drugs on their land. 
Due to funding constraints, however, implementation of this part of 
the program has been impeded.  Other associations for the prevention 
of drug abuse are in the process of elaborating a program of drug 
prevention under the auspices of the International Committee for the 
Fight against Drugs, which is managed by the Ministry of the 
Interior. 
 
 
DAKAR 00002717  003 OF 003 
 
 
IV.  U.S. POLICY INITIATIVES AND PROGRAMS 
----------------------------------------- 
¶13.  USG goals and objectives in Senegal are to strengthen law 
enforcement capabilities in counter-narcotics efforts.  In 2002, the 
USG started a program to train counter-narcotics agents in drug 
investigation and interdiction methods under the State Department's 
Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL). 
 The program provided USD 220,000 for several law enforcement 
programs that will aid the police in all aspects of narcotics 
investigatins and prosecutions.  Additionally, the USG is in the 
sixth year of continued training to the technicians at the National 
Drug Laboratory that was founded with basic drug analysis equipment 
and training provided by INL.  There were no new legal agreements 
against drug use or trafficking concluded between the USG and GOS in 
the past year. 
 
¶14.  The Road Ahead.  The USG will continue to work closely with the 
Senegalese government to improve the capacity of its narcotics law 
enforcement officers to investigate and prosecute narcotics crimes. 
 
¶V.  STATISTICAL TABLES 
---------------------- 
DRUG              2003      2004      2005 
----              ------------------------ 
 
Opium                 None on record 
 
Cannabis         3751 kg    2787 kg   335 kg 
 
Cocaine           355 g     1657 g    5505 g 
 
Methamph.             None on record 
 
MDMA             4187 doses  N/A      N/A 
 
VI.  COMMENT 
------------ 
¶15.  Figures for Senegal's drug seizures are compiled from separate 
reports generated by the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry 
of Defense.  Final statistics for 2006 will not be available until 
early January 2007 and will be reported septel when received.  END 
COMMENT. 
 
VI.  CHEMICAL CONTROL 
--------------------- 
¶16.  There are no grounds for adding Senegal to the list of chemical 
control countries at this time. 
 
Jacobs