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Keynote speakers (from left) Interpol Secretary General Mr Ronald K. Noble, Ghana's Inspector General of Police Patrick Kwarteng Acheampong and Ghana's Interior Minister Nana Obiri Boahen.

More than 50 delegates from 16 west African countries are attending the WAPCCO conference.

Ghana's Inspector General of Police Patrick Kwarteng Acheampong addressing the conference.

Yapo Kouassi, Director General of the National Police for Cote d'Ivoire and Chairman of WAPCCO.

ACCRA, Ghana – Ghana’s Minister of Interior Nana Obiri Boahen today urged police forces in West Africa to work as one to secure their borders and catch transnational criminals, at the opening of the annual meeting of police chiefs in the region.

'It is important that we come together as one security agency and effectively share intelligence that can assist each other in the fight against transnational crime,' said Mr Obiri Boahen at the 9th meeting of the West African Police Chiefs Committee (WAPCCO).

'I encourage you to remove all obstacles that hinder effective police co-operation and joint operations so that we can be proud of a unified police force that can monitor our borders effectively.'

Crime issues to be discussed during the two-day conference, which brings together more than 50 representatives from WAPCCO’s 16 member countries and numerous international bodies, include drug trafficking, human trafficking, people smuggling, and the proliferation of small arms and light weapons.

West Africa has recently emerged as a major transit point for the smuggling of cocaine from South America to Europe. Earlier this year, INTERPOL dispatched Incident Response Teams to assist authorities in Guinea-Bissau and Mauritania following large-scale cocaine seizures.

INTERPOL Secretary General Ronald K. Noble highlighted the need for an active and dynamic partnership between national police forces in the region, INTERPOL’s General Secretariat and its Sub-Regional Bureau for West Africa in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, which also serves as WAPCCO’s secretariat.

'The challenges we face are local, national and global and so must be our response,' said Mr Noble. 'We want INTERPOL’s tools and services to closely match your respective operational and strategic policing needs.

'In this complex world, where transnational crime networks continue to reinvent and adapt themselves, the INTERPOL community – and that includes all of us – must be always a step ahead, ready to face head-on any emerging security risks.'

Mr Noble said the organization was committed to supporting regional crime priorities and policing needs by providing law enforcement with training and expanded access to INTERPOL’s databases, and facilitating more joint police operations both regionally and internationally.

INTERPOL’s 19th African Regional Conference in Arusha, Tanzania, in July endorsed a recommendation asking the INTERPOL General Secretariat to co-ordinate, through its Sub-Regional Bureau in Abidjan, joint police operations with WAPCCO.

This year so far, joint operations have targeted small arms and light weapons, child trafficking and vehicle theft.

News and Media Releases   West African police chiefs urged to adopt common approach to fight crime (03/10/2007)      Speeches   Opening speech by Ghana's Minister of Interior Nana Obiri Boahen   Allocution de Monsieur le Directeur Général de la Police Nationale de Côte d’Ivoire (French version)   Keynote speech by INTERPOL Secretary General Ronald K. Noble See also   Photo gallery