Photo: United Nations Photo/UN Multimedia

A seminar on drugs and maritime crime off the East African coast will be held on July 2 in Dar es Salaam. Tanzania.

East Africa plays an increasing role in the global illicit drug trade, particularly as a corridor for the trafficking of heroin and cocaine.

This three-part seminar will explore different dimensions of this growing regional threat.  The event will be chaired by Deo Gumba, ENACT Regional organised crime observatory coordinator – East and Horn of Africa, Institute for Security Studies.

The first session marks the launch of a new research paper titled The heroin coast: A political economy along the eastern African seaboard.

Co-authors Simone Haysom and Peter Gastrow from the Global Initiative against Transnational Organised Crime will present on the heroin trade in the region; and the criminal governance systems that facilitate drug trafficking.

The relationship between media reporting and responses to drug trafficking is the focus of the second session, which also sees launch of a research paper titled Analysing drug-trafficking in East Africa: a media-monitoring approach.  This presentation is led by the author, ISS consultant Ciara Aucoin, with Sammy Awami from the BBC World Service contributing as a respondent.

The third session will focus on drug trafficking in the region against the broader backdrop of maritime insecurity and governance challenges, led by ISS maritime expert Timothy Walker.

ENACT