From the Netherlands to Sierra Leone: EU aid, a president’s daughter and Europe’s most‑wanted cocaine boss

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A series of major cocaine seizures being trafficked into Europe via West Africa have been linked to wanted fugitive Jos Leijdekkers (Photo: US federal government)

EU and the World

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By Benjamin Fox,
Nairobi
,

The EU has played down claims by the Dutch government that the bloc’s decision to suspend aid support for Sierra Leone was because the west African country refused to extradite one of the world’s most-wanted drug traffickers to face trial in the Netherlands. 

Speaking on Thursday, (1 October) after a meeting of EU justice ministers in Luxembourg, migration commissioner Magnus Brunner told reporters that the decision to suspend support was made for “technical reasons” — but without giving more detail.  

Sierra Leone was allocated €352m in EU funding between 2021 and 2027, under the bloc’s seven-year budget framework. The country was set to receive €18m from the EU this year. 

But Dutch justice minister David Van Weel insists that the suspension of funds is the result of months of pressure from the Dutch government to persuade president Julius Maada Bio’s government to hand over convicted Dutch drug trafficker Jos Leijdekkers.  

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A series of major cocaine seizures being trafficked into Europe via West Africa have been linked to wanted fugitive Jos Leijdekkers (Photo: US federal government)

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Author Bio

Benjamin Fox is our trade and geopolitics editor. His reporting has also been published in the Guardian, the East African, Euractiv, Private Eye and Africa Confidential, among others. He is based in Nairobi, Kenya, although he often reports from London.

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