West African police join hands against transnational crimes

ABIDJAN 

Police chiefs from West African countries have agreed to bolster cooperation to fight cross-border crimes, including human and arms trafficking.

Following a two-day summit which concluded in Malian capital Bamako on Thursday, the police chiefs decided to strengthen the capacity and inter-state cooperation to fight organised crime in the region.

A technical sub-committee of representatives from member-states will now be in charge of promoting cooperation between police officers with the aim of strengthening regional capacity to effectively fight against organized transnational crime, according to a final communiqué of the summit.

The summit brought together representatives from Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Ivory Coast, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Niger, Senegal, Togo and Sierra Leone.

Interpol regional bureau, based in Ivory Coast's capital Abidjan, was also represented.

Interpol plays an important role in combating crime in the region of 15 countries, with porous borders manned at times by corrupt officers.

"The countries in West Africa now share a common communication network and many databases which have helped in fishing out criminals and providing useful information to pre-empt criminal activities,” Interpol regional bureau chief Yves Abadinan told Anadolu Agency.

"Interpol has also been training officers on the enforcement of existing laws in all areas of crime across the region, which has greatly improved capacities of agents," he said.

Last year, 10,945 officers attended 288 training sessions to learn how to apply anti-crime laws in 190 Interpol member countries, with 69 organized in Africa for 2482 agents, according to the organization’s training report released earlier this year.

Last year, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) said that lack of cooperation from some member-states and reluctance to send officers for information and training workshops have created lapses in the region’s security system.

By Kingsley Kobo

englishnews@aa.com.tr