July 2024

ADF STAFF The Botswana Defence Force took possession of a C-130 Hercules cargo aircraft provided by the U.S. in a transfer ceremony during the African Chiefs of Defense Conference in Gaborone. Known for its toughness and versatility,…

ADF STAFF China has eclipsed Russia as the largest exporter of arms to Sub-Saharan Africa. These weapons — including drones, rockets, artillery, armored vehicles, aircraft, firearms, ammunition, missiles, space systems, radar and…

ADF STAFF Information warfare has become a ubiquitous threat in nearly all of Africa’s violent conflicts. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan and the Sahel region, social media platforms have augmented…

ADF STAFF Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have added Sennar state, a key agricultural region, to their zone of control as they sweep through the southern parts of the country with little resistance from the rival Sudanese Armed Forces…

ADF STAFF Of all the weapons at their disposal, Sudan’s two warring generals have turned in recent months to one that is cheap, familiar and devastating: starvation. “Both the SAF (Sudanese Armed Forces) and the RSF (Rapid Support Forces)…

ADF STAFF Violent extremist organizations from northern Benin and Burkina Faso are increasingly targeting northern Togo as conflicts from the Sahel spill into coastal countries. Four people on a tricycle in the north-central town of…

ADF STAFF Ernest Fornah, 32, is among Sierra Leone’s growing number of kush addicts. He smokes the drug four times a day and often can be found sitting with other users on streets and alleyways in Freetown, the capital. “These drugs are…

ADF STAFF The African Union Transition Mission in Somalia is prioritizing community policing techniques as it prepares Somali security forces to assume full control of the country when the mission exits in December 2024. The mission,…

ADF STAFF Thick white smoke billowed over the rooftops and power lines at a military base housing Djiboutian troops attached to the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS). Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for the June 30…

ADF STAFF Chinese lending to African countries slowed significantly in the years immediately before and after the COVID-19 pandemic. But although many countries still struggle under the weight of enormous debt, China appears poised to…