Africa suffers from the illegal exploitation of its gold. Indeed, if trafficking is a reality, the extent of it was poorly known. A report from the ECOWAS demonstrates that billions evaporate each year, due to measures that are little, if not ineffective.
Every year, in Africa, illegal gold mining costs billions of dollars. Indeed, if the problem is well known to the nations concerned, solutions are lacking. The reason ? Decisions are made at the local and national level. But the cross-border nature of the problem is often obscured, which does not solve the whole problem (or even does not solve it at all).
Decisions that don’t have many consequences
According to ECOWAS (the Economic Community of West African States), it is imperative that genuine inter-regional cooperation takes place, thus making it possible to tackle the problem head on. In her report, she points out the decisions taken in recent years which have brought nothing. In fact, smuggling costs the country $120 million each year. NigerAt Mali and at Burkina !
And this money, which does not return to the State, is used, in certain cases, to finance the coffers of extremist groups and small groups very active in the region. Worse still, illegal gold mining is harming the region’s farmers! At Ghanafor example, this resulted in the destruction of 2% of the national cocoa orchardassuming a reduction in subsidies and investments in this area.
Many options are on the table
The report therefore invites States (West Africans, in particular) to put in place a real coordination policy, making it possible to fight against gold trafficking at the border level. Sharing information, strengthening laws, implementing common strategies between the different players in the gold sector… The options on the table to clean up the market are quite numerous.
