Increasing violence is driving risky travel to the Canary Islands and changing smuggling networks, especially those involving cocaine and migration. Extremist organizations take use of illegal economies in Ghana, Togo, Côte d’Ivoire, and northern Benin. Their actions, which range from livestock rustling to gold smuggling, exacerbate instability. GI-TOC keeps an eye on these connections and investigates how crime and conflict dynamics are changing as a result of instruments like Starlink. There are flourishing illegal businesses, particularly small-scale gold mining, in the border regions of Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, and Burkina Faso. Security worries in the north are growing as armed groups move southward. Communities in the Upper West area of Ghana and the Bounkani region of Côte d’Ivoire, which are major cattle-laundering hotspots, expressed opinions about how local economies fuel instability and how specific assistance may be beneficial. This risk is assessed and key participants are mapped through GI-TOC’sfieldworkin northern Ghana and Burkina Faso. Programing is being guided by insights, and community resilience against disruptive markets is being strengthened.

https://globalinitiative.net/announcements/key-highlights-and-milestones-from-the-support-to-the-mitigation-of-destabilizing-effects-of-transnational-organized-crime-m-toc-project/