Drogenhandel im südlichen Afrika: Die Hinterlassenschaft von Krieg und Apartheid

Abstract

When Southern Africa opened up to the world following the end of civil wars and the downfall of apartheid in the RSA in the mid-1990s, the region simultaneously became both an export and transit hub and a market for international flows of illicit substances like cocaine, heroin, hashish, marijuana and synthetic drugs. Three, macro-level, interconnected geopolitical factors are being discussed in order to explain the recent mutation of the Southern African drug geopolitics: The „ethnic-political factor“. According to this explanation, the rampant or open civil and international conflicts arising from apartheid and the barriers it has erected between ethnic communities and countries have become a breeding ground for processes fostering the production, trafficking and consumption of banned drugs. Secondly, the „legacy of conflicts“, relating the illegal infrastructure and expertise that were developed in the region during three decades of conflicts. The third factor is „barter“, an age-old tool of traders around the world. Currently, drugs are well suited to play the part of a „strong currency“ in this business.

Die Lateinamerikanistin Rita Hoppe aus Berlin übersetzte den Text aus dem Englischen.