West Africa Ivory Coast, and a succession of military coups in Ghana and Burkina Faso. Since the end of colonialism, the region has been the stage for some brutal conflicts, including: The Economic Community of West African States, established in May 1975, has defined the region of West Africa since 1999 as including the following 15 states: Geopolitically, the United Nations definition of Western Africa includes the preceding states with the addition of Mauritania (which withdrew from ECOWAS in 1999), comprising an area of approximately 6.1 million square km. The UN region also includes the island of Saint Helena, a British overseas
West Africa Coast Initiative organized crime in West Africa is beginning to subside. Only the major trading routes are shown, but there are many more in different areas in the world for different drugs. This map only shows the trading routes of cocaine, the most frequently trafficked drug in West Africa. UNmultimedia A UN press release Another UN press release West Africa Coast Initiative The West Africa Coast Initiative is an attempt from the United Nations to combat the fight against drug trafficking and transnational organized crime in West Africa. Initially, where $1 billion worth of cocaine is trafficked annually, are the first to