DAKAR, (Reuters) – The United States warned Guinea  Bissau yesterday it could not help in international efforts to  reform its armed forces unless they were purged of suspected  leaders of the growing West African drugs trade.

The United States earlier this year named among suspected  narcotics kingpins the former navy chief of staff Bubo Na  Tchuto, who analysts say has regained influence over the  military since returning from exile last year.

“It will be impossible for the United States to contribute  to the security and defence reform process if these or other  individuals implicated in narcotics trafficking … serve in  positions of authority in the armed forces,” a statement issued  by the U.S. embassy in Dakar, Senegal said.

It added that the continued detention of armed forces chief  Jose Zamora Induta by soldiers loyal to leaders of a successful  April 1 mutiny “calls into question the Government’s control of  the armed forces”.

Na Tchuto is an ally of mutiny leader General Antonio Njai  and is seen ready to step into a leadership vacuum left by a  dispute between President Malam Bacai Sanha and reformist Prime  Minister Carlos Gomes Junior, an ardent anti-drugs activist.

The United States, former colonial power Portugal, the  European Union and others have been involved in long-term  efforts to reform an army seen as having disproportionate and  destabilising sway over the country of 1.6 million since 1974  independence.

Traffickers have identified West Africa with its often weak  security structures as an ideal staging post for Latin American  drugs en route to Europe.

In a rare public success against the trade, police in nearby  Gambia this month seized 2.34 tonnes of cocaine bound for Europe  and arrested a dozen suspected traffickers following a joint  operation with British detectives.

Speaking at the passing-out parade of new army recruits in  the Gambian capital Banjul on Thursday, President Yahya Jammeh  warned that anyone found having ties with the drugs trade would  face stiff sentences at the Mile 2 prison.

“West Africa is becoming synonymous with drugs, but Gambia  would be an exception… If anyone is caught, you should book a  place in Mile 2. I don’t care who is involved in drugs, not even  my uncle or my mother — I swear to God I will deal with them.”