A new United Nations report released on Tuesday is warning that the fight against narcotics in the West African subregion is being lost as cartels have devised more ingenuous means of transporting the drugs. At a conference in the Senegalese capital, Dakar, the regional head of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, Alexandre Schmidt said seizures of cocaine bound for Europe from West Africa had dropped from 47 to 35 tonnes between 2008 and 2009. He hinted that the illegal trade had not followed the same trend and might even be increasing. But Dr. Kwesi Aning, a security analyst and head of Research at the Kofi Annan Peace Keeping and Training Centre has called for a regional approach to solving the menace. Speaking to Joy News’ Israel Laryea on Tuesday, Dr. Aning said governments in West Africa can only win the war on narcotics by carrying out a “subregion-wide analysis,” adding “we need to look at this through what we call a Regional Complex Lens; that is the nature of the interrelationships among different states." Reacting to the content of the report that said submarines are being used in the trade, Dr. Aning stated “the submersibles have been in operation for the past five years. They were targeting mainland United States. They have started targeting [West Africa] - the first trial round was made to West Africa three and half years ago.” He said due to the weak naval force of the countries in the West African region, it became a safe haven for the drug barons to continue their illicit trade. Dr. Aning discounted claims that Ghana is no longer a transit point, explaining that “the problem is serious in Ghana. Look, understanding the extent of this problem - the intricate relationship and dynamic - does not need a single country analysis.” He stressed that the individualistic way of fighting the problem will only worsen matters. Dr. Aning indicated that there is nothing new about the report and that he was surprised that it failed to touch on issues on money laundering in the sub-region. According to Dr. Aning, “the impact of narcotics on our public sector is massive; from political parties, parliament, judiciary, police services, customs to immigration,” stressing the need for the sub-region to be proactive towards the problem. Story by Derick Romeo Adogla/Myjoyonline.com/Ghana