Pubdate: Wed, 10 May 2006 Source: New Vision (Uganda) Copyright: 2006 New Vision Contact: http://www.newvision.co.ug/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/522 Author: Abubaker Mukose EAST AFRICA MAJOR DRUG CONDUIT, SAYS UN OFFICIAL Kampala EAST Africa is Africa's major transit point for drug trafficking, a UN regional representative on drugs and crime has said. Carsten Hyttel said drug traffickers had flourished on East Africa's weak socio-economic and political policies, on top of weak laws, to transform the region into a major haul mainly for heroin from Asia and cocaine from South America. "Drug tracking is like flowing water. Should you block one end, it changes course to another channel. Since Europe and America have put stringent measures on them, they have found East Africa a suitable alternative for the illicit trade due to the ill-equipped capacity to detect it and track the dealers," Carsten said. He was addressing journalists on the vulnerability of East Africa on the phenomenon at Sunset Hotel in Jinja on Monday. - --- MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman