Brazilian buses arrive in Guinea Bissau for the country's Security Forces Training Centre
April 14, 2011 - Arrived on Sunday, April 10, two buses and a police car that will transport students to the Security Forces Training Centre of Guinea Bissau. The provision of transport is part of a triangular cooperation project between the Brazilian Government, the Government of Guinea Bissau and the United Nations Office for Drugs and Crime (UNODC) to train police officers in order strengthen the National Plan on Drugs and Crime of the African country.
The Buses are the result of apprehensions made by the IRS and were allocated to the project by the Brazilian government. "The buses will be used from May, when classes start, and will be vital for the student's transportation, in view of the distance between the training center and the capital, Bissau," explained the Program Officer for South-South Cooperation in the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime in Brazil and Southern Cone, Flavia Antunes.
The cooperation project intends to train 100 police officers in the training course. Since implementation began, in 2010, the project has already led Brazilian officials to give classes on techniques of educational planning and management in Guinea Bissau Guinean and 66 Guinean officers had the opportunity to attend training in Brazil.
The program seeks to strengthen the pillars of security, human rights, justice and integrity of Guinea Bissau, which had its institutions weakened by the Civil War between 1998 and 1999. The Training Centre has the know-how of the Brazilian Federal Police in the fight against organized crime and the technical expertise of UNODC and seeks to serve as reference for other West African countries committed to halt the actions of transnational networks of drug traffickers.
The latest annual reports of drugs produced by UNODC show that organized crime has diversified its routes and methods for drug trafficking. Part of the drugs produced in South America is exported, via Sao Paulo and Fortaleza, to Eastern African countries such as Guinea Bissau, going directly to Europe. The project reaffirms the commitments of UNODC to strengthen South-South Cooperation through which countries with common historical features seek joint solutions to develop and share successful experiences in fighting drugs and transnational organized crime.