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CAPE VERDE: Urban crime, violence multiplies

PRAIA Monday, December 01, 2008 (IRIN) - In Cape Verde violent crimes were five times higher in 2007 than over the past 10 years combined, according to the country’s investigative police. Residents, police and the government are grappling with the increase, pointing to drug trafficking, criminal deportees, unemployment and even television as potential causes. From 1996 to 2006, there were two murders and 11 crimes of sexual aggression reported nationwide. In 2007, there were 56 homicide...

CAPE VERDE: Deported youth offenders face drugs, unemployment

PRAIA Wednesday, November 26, 2008 (IRIN) - About 900 Cape Verdeans have been deported back to the islands since 1992. Rejected by their host country after they committed crimes, the group of mostly young male deportees said they have returned home only to find plentiful drugs, unemployment and discrimination. The head of the country’s judiciary police, Oscar Silva dos Reis Tavares, told IRIN the government needs to reintegrate these deportees, or else risk rising criminality. “A number of...

CAPE VERDE: Money laundering taints economic growth

PRAIA Monday, November 03, 2008 (IRIN) - Faced with a growing number of drug trafficking, money laundering and organised crime investigations, the head of Cape Verde’s judiciary police told IRIN his agents may know who the traffickers and money launderers are, but do not have enough resources to catch them all. Oscar Silva dos Reis Tavares, who directs high-level crime investigations at the judiciary police, told IRIN his agents are handling 150 investigations, including 10 money laundering...

CAPE VERDE: Clandestine housing squeezes cities

PRAIA Thursday, November 06, 2008 (IRIN) - Illegal housing precariously built on the volcanic archipelago of Cape Verde threatens to increase erosion, land disputes, disease, flooding, and crime, according to the government and its NGO partners who are trying to contain the damage of clandestine urban sprawl. Cape Verde’s population is estimated at close to 500,000 for 2008, with about 125,000 living in the capital Praia on the island of Santiago, according to the government’s National...

CAPE VERDE: Clandestine housing squeezes cities

Illegal housing precariously built on the volcanic archipelago of Cape Verde threatens to increase erosion, land disputes, disease, flooding, and crime, according to the government and its NGO partners who are trying to contain the damage of clandestine urban sprawl. Cape Verde’s population is estimated at close to 500,000 for 2008, with about 125,000 living in the capital Praia on the island of Santiago, according to the government’s National Statistics Institute. Vicious cycle Sara Lopes,...

CAPE VERDE: Money laundering taints economic growth

Faced with a growing number of drug trafficking, money laundering and organised crime investigations, the head of Cape Verde’s judiciary police told IRIN his agents may know who the traffickers and money launderers are, but do not have enough resources to catch them all. Oscar Silva dos Reis Tavares, who directs high-level crime investigations at the judiciary police, told IRIN his agents are handling 150 investigations, including 10 money laundering cases. But the police should be looking...

WEST AFRICA: Clandestine cannabis farmers feed growing drug abuse

Farmers in West Africa are turning to cannabis as a quick cash crop, feeding the biggest illegal drug market in the world. UN Office on Drugs and Crime’s (UNODC) director for West Africa, Antonio Mazzitelli, told IRIN clandestine farmers are lured by quick earnings: “Faced with the choice of cannabis or cassava, some choose easy money.” Of an estimated 42,000 metric tons of cannabis grown worldwide in 2006 – sold as marijuana or hashish – 25 percent was grown in Africa where it is the most...

WEST AFRICA: Drug seizures tip of “cocaine iceberg” – UN

The head of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has warned West African government ministers of the corruptive power of drug trafficking, saying it “pervert[s] weak economies” and compromises political elites. UNODC Executive Director Antonio Costa told participants at a ministerial conference in Cape Verde, closing on 29 October, that drug trafficking threatens public health and security. In a report on drug trafficking and security in West Africa released on 28 October, UN authors...