Newsline 9 December 2009: a growing drugs trade in Africa is funding international terrorist organisations, a draft agreement causes uproar at the Copenhagen climate summit, and the Dutch prince is in trouble over property deals.

Listen to today’s edition:

Drugs for weapons in the Sahel
The head of the UN drugs agency, Antonia Maria Costa, has today highlighted growing international links between the drugs trade, and crime and terrorism.

Findings indicate vast amounts of heroin and cocaine are being traded in Africa, with cocaine coming into the west and heroin to the east of the continent.

The UN says the African drugs trade is used to fund international terrorist organisations and anti-government groups.

Paddy Maguire asks Walter Kemp, spokesperson for the UN drugs agency, the UNODC, why western Africa has become the central hub for drugs and terrorism.

Dashed hopes or storm in a teacup?
"Ladies and gentlemen, as we stand here, this is the second day, and our hopes have been dashed. Our hopes have been dashed, because the multinational companies have hijacked our negotiations. We are very sad because the negotiations have been hijacked by political interests and we are not assured of a fair deal in Copenhagen."

The furious reaction at the fringes of the Copenhagen climate summit came from the representative of an African NGO. He was addressing an angry protest at the news of a leaked draft agreement drawn up by Denmark. Critics say the so-called 'Danish text' puts the onus on developing countries to limit their greenhouse gas emissions, but gives the wealthy countries an easy ride.

The document, leaked to the British Guardian newspaper, abandons the principle in the Kyoto protocol that the countries which have so far produced the bulk of the greenhouse gas emissions should be responsible for making the biggest cuts. Analysts are saying it would allow rich countries to emit almost twice the amount of carbon per person compared to poor countries by 2050.

Michael Blass asks Radio Netherlands Worldwide's environment correspondent Marnie Chesterton how significant the leaked document is to the summit.

“Prince Property” raises Dutch eyebrows
The Dutch Crown Prince Willem Alexander is fast getting a reputation as "Prince Property", in the wake of a number of land deals he's been involved in.

Several of these deals have raised eyebrows in the Netherlands - most notably the prince's plan to build a holiday home in Mozambique, which he has since given up. And some people now question whether these property deals will have an impact on Willem-Alexander's future role as king of the Netherlands.

Radio Netherlands Worldwide’s political editor John Tyler reports.