Confronting crime networks in Dakar

Organised crime continues to increase in Dakar, with vast implications for urban governance. To combat this, well-informed, comprehensive and sustainable solutions are needed.

Organised crime is increasing in Dakar, Senegal, involving drug trafficking, illicit pharmaceutical products and cybercrime. The implications for urban governance range from the risk of undermining the rule of law to state governance being weakened and replaced by criminal governance. Solutions that are well informed, comprehensive and sustainable are required. They should also involve subregional and international collaboration. The government needs to identify the actors involved, improve law enforcement, adapt relevant laws to newly emerging needs and adopt a comprehensive approach to the problem, while involving civil society in finding possible solutions.

About the authors

Ismaïla Diallo is a tax and properties inspector who has worked for the public administration of Senegal since 2005. He led the Research Bureau of the General Tax Administration from January 2009 to March 2014, before being appointed as technical adviser at the Ministry of the Economy and Finance. He is pursuing a joint PhD programme in economics at the University of Auvergne and the Centre for Studies and Research on International Development in Clermont-Ferrand (France).

Mamoudou Ndiaye is a consulting jurist with extensive experience in international criminal law, human rights litigation, and the interface between criminality and civic administration. From the beginning of 2014 he has studied and analysed active crime networks in Dakar and the factors that explain their apparent resilience.