West Africa has seen an "absolutely shocking" increase in narcotics trafficking, which disrupts local communities and threatens the entire region, U.S. Africa Command's civilian deputy told Ghanaian reporters March 2, 2009, while visiting a fishing community near the coastal city of Sekondi.

"It is absolutely shocking what has happened -- the increase in drugs," Ambassador Mary Carlin Yates told reporters. Yates was U.S. ambassador to Ghana from 2002 to 2005. Yates is now U.S. AFRICOM's deputy to the commander for civil-military activities.

Since her departure in 2005, West Africa has seen a dramatic increase in narcotics trafficking, with an estimated $2 billion worth of cocaine crossing the mid-Atlantic from South and Central America. A majority of the drugs passing through West Africa are headed for Europe. The U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) estimates at least 50 tons of cocaine transits through West Africa each year. Local communities are increasingly disrupted because drug traffickers pay their transport costs in cocaine instead of money, increasing the amount of narcotics available to populations.
"This is more than a drug problem -- It is a threat to public health and security," UNODC's executive director, Antonio Maria Costa, said during an international conference in October, 2008 in Cape Verde.

Yates said that the United States has found that in counter-narcotics, it is crucial to coordinate between agencies and ministries, as well as to partner internationally.
Yates met with reporters after visiting the USS Nashville, a U.S. Navy ship that is touring West Africa for five months as part of Africa Partnership Station, an initiative to promote increased international cooperation in maritime security.

In Ghana, as part of a larger U.S. government program, U.S. AFRICOM is helping to fund drug screening equipment and upgrades at Ghana's international airport to support Ghanaian counter-narcotics and customs programs.

Africa Command also is helping to fund a Police Evidence Storage and Training facility to provide more capacity in storing evidence in support of counter-drug operations. The goal is to assist in achieving a greater number of lawful convictions. The facility includes a training center and computer lab, with estimated completion this summer.

Before arriving in Ghana, Yates visited Cape Verde.