Africa Defense Forum
ADF is a professional military magazine published quarterly by U.S. Africa Command to provide an international forum for African security professionals. ADF covers topics such as counter terrorism strategies, security and defense operations, transnational crime, and all other issues affecting peace, stability, and good governance on the African continent.
Yearly Archives

2017

Complex Missions Simple Technology

U.N. Police and Soldiers Can Enhance Peacekeeping With Off-the-Shelf Tools ADF STAFF As the summer heat baked the Central African Republic (CAR), tensions between ex-Séléka and Anti-Balaka forces boiled near the town of Kaga-Bandoro in…

The Invisible Wall

Surveillance Technology Helps Secure Border Zones ADF STAFF As Tunisia emerges from the most tumultuous period in its history, one thing has become clear: It must secure its borders. This fact was illustrated during a bloody attack in…

Momentum Builds for Peace in Casamance

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE There is reason for hope in Senegal’s Casamance region. New houses dot a landscape once dominated by abandoned ruins full of bullet holes, though the specter of a 35-year conflict still haunts its villages.…

Help is a Call Away

Enlisting the Support of Citizens, and Rewarding Them, Can Pay Off in the Fight Against Terrorism ADF STAFF As Somalia’s national elections took place in February 2017, government and African Union forces took action to head off…

Maritime Threats Require Unified Navies

Pirates are attacking ships in Somalia and the Gulf of Guinea, and coastal nations will have to work together to stop them. ADF STAFF In February 2016, 14 Nigerian and Ghanaian pirates hijacked the Maximus, a Panama-flagged oil tanker,…

Patrolling Cyberspace

New laws and tactics are needed to catch extremists online ADF STAFF In July 2017, as Iraqi forces were pushing ISIS out of the city of Mosul, authorities found a 16-year-old girl hiding in a tunnel. She had run away from her home in…

Weapons on the Web

Facebook struggles to control a black market in Libya. ADF STAFF With nearly 2 billion active accounts, Facebook has something for almost everyone. That includes black market rocket launchers and anti-aircraft missiles. Such weapons…

West African Countries are Rice Rivals

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE In Nigeria, jollof rice isn’t just a tasty dish — it’s a national obsession. Dozens of top Nigerian chefs gathered for Lagos’ inaugural jollof festival in August 2017, showcasing their personal twists on the tangy,…