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WEA-Obs

Mapping illicit hubs in West Africa

This illicit hub mapping initiative is a flagship product of the the Observatory of Illicit Economies in West Africa (WEA-Obs) at the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime (GI-TOC). Building on mapping launched in 2022, a comprehensive mapping of 350 illicit hubs across West Africa and parts of Central Africa has been undertaken. These hubs are locations where illicit economies converge, and where their impact on conflict and instability can be assessed.

In addition to identifying key hotspots, transit points and illicit ecosystems, the project entails further analysis of each illicit hub, and its relationship with regional stability. In order to identify the illicit hubs which are most important in terms of their knock-on effect on conflict and stability across West Africa, a quantitative metric has been developed: the Illicit Economies & Instability Monitor (IEIM), which provides a score out of 33 for each illicit hub. The monitor comprises three components: violence and instability, crime-conflict links, and accelerators. The IEIM enables the identification of areas where illicit markets play the most important role as vectors of instability and conflict in the region, empowering policymakers to prioritize specific areas for targeted action.

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Illicit hubs

Hotspots

Hotspots are places where there is a strong presence of not only illicit economies and organized criminal activities but also criminal actors (who may or may not have the support of people with political power). Hotspots are characterized by either the ‘production’ of illicit activity (which can be also thought of as ‘source/origin locations’) or the ‘distribution’ of illicit activity (alternatively, ‘destination markets’), or both. Hotspots should be understood as hubs of concentrated illicit activity that feed into wider national or regional criminal dynamics.

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Illicit hubs

Transit points

Transit points are certain locations – including seaports, airports, border crossings and road infrastructure – leveraged for the trafficking of illicit commodities.

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Illicit hubs

Illicit ecosystems

Illicit ecosystems – referred to as ‘crime zones’ in the 2022 mapping – are broader geographic areas that encompass more than one hotspot or transit point (for example, the Casamance region, but not the entire northern Benin). Ecosystems are areas that bind together several interlinked hotspots or transit points, with the illicit economies operating there being closely intertwined.

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English

Organized crime and instability dynamics: mapping illicit hubs in West Africa

In addition to the interactive map, the GI-TOC has published an accompanying report providing further analysis and depth to the findings.

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Acknowledgements

The illicit hub mapping project was developed by a core GI-TOC team led by Lyes Tagziria and Lucia Bird. This research would not have been possible without the dedication and commitment of the GI-TOC research team, whose sustained efforts over many years have built the foundation for this work. We are also grateful to the consultants who shared their knowledge and networks, and to the many individuals who generously contributed their expertise and insights throughout the research process.

We wish to extend particular thanks to Flore Berger for her extensive contribution to the drafting of the report, and to Mark Shaw and Tuesday Reitano for their valuable reviews and guidance. We also thank the publications and communications teams for their efforts on this report and the wider set of illicit hub narratives, and Café.art.br and Claudio Landi for their outstanding work in developing the online illicit hub mapping tool.

Finally, we would like to pay tribute to José Luengo-Cabrera, whose expertise helped lay the foundations of the illicit hub mapping but whose humour and warmth was cherished most by all those who worked with him.

Sources for the external data used in the online tool include the Armed Conflict Location & Event Dataset Project (ACLED), the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the United States Geological Survey (USGS), World Bank, Natural Earth and University of Maryland/Global Forest Watch

ABOUT THE PROJECT

To confront the complex challenges of Transnational Organized Crime, the "Support to the Mitigation of Destabilizing Effects of Transnational Organised Crime (M-TOC)" combines traditional security responses with community-driven resilience measures, informed by cutting-edge research on the intersection of illicit economies and instability in the tri-border area of Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire and Burkina Faso.

The "Support to the Mitigation of Destabilizing Effects of Transnational Organised Crime (M-TOC)" project is a project commissioned by the German Federal Foreign Office, implemented by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, and the Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime (GITOC), from 2024 to 2025.

ABOUT THE WEST AFRICA OBSERVATORY

The GI-TOC Observatory of Illicit Economies in West Africa, established in 2021, encompasses researchers working across wider West Africa and the Sahel. The Observatory works to shed light on the political economy of transnational organized crime in the region, focusing on the links between illicit markets, instability and conflict. The Observatory applies a partnership approach, working with and supporting civil society across the region. As part of this, the Observatory maps the hubs, routes and flows of illicit markets, and the key actors, assessing their implications for regional stability, conflict, governance and social tension in the region. The countries falling within the scope of the observatory are Benin, Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo.

ABOUT THE GI-TOC

The GI-TOC is a network of professionals working on the front lines of the fight against the illicit economy and criminal actors. Through a network of global civil society observatories on the illicit economy, we monitor evolving trends and work to build the evidence basis for policy action, disseminate the expertise of our Network, and catalyze multisectoral and holistic responses across a range of crime types. With the Global Initiative's Resilience Fund, we support community activists and local non-governmental organizations working in areas where crime governance critically undermines people's safety, security and life chances.