Top West African officials are calling for greater United Nations and international support to prevent the region’s coasts from becoming a haven for pirates and to fight growing drug and arms trafficking

A large shipment of weapons has been seized by Nigeria's State Security Service at the port in Lagos city

Zimbabwe Defence Industries (ZDI) has been sucked into the arms trafficking scandal involving rogue Ecuadorian bishop Walter Crespo, amid allegations that the shadowy Zimbabwean army-run company supplied some of the weapons smuggled by Crespo to Colombian rebels.

Niger’s observance of Islam is not overly strict, but the preponderance of gin bottles on stalls lining its pitted roads is still a surprise

The process for the extradition of Viktor Bout – the most famous arms dealer between millennia – is ongoing