2024

ADF STAFF The number of violent events involving extremist groups in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger has nearly doubled since 2021. That is according to a Reuters review of data from the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data crisis…

ADF STAFF In an effort to recruit new fighters the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) is invoking Faza’a, an ancient, pre-Islamic Sudanese tradition. Faza’a allows tribes to call on their members and allies for support against…

ADF STAFF A string of suicide bombings in northern Nigeria might indicate that extremists are feeling pressure from successful military campaigns, according to observers. The recent bombings in Gwoza, Borno State, were the first suicide…

ADF STAFF Ismai’l remembers the day Boko Haram changed his life. Sitting in the shade outside his displaced family’s makeshift shelter in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State, he said he turned to drugs to forget. “I began using…

ADF STAFF Although Somalia is known as home to the extremist group al-Shabaab, another rival terrorist organization is making a name for itself in the Horn of Africa nation: the Islamic State Somalia, or ISSOM. The group is much…

ADF STAFF The Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) hosted a five-day workshop in September with the U.S. Army Southern European Task Force, Africa (SETAF-AF) that focused on enhancing the capacity of civil-military operations (CMO) amid increasing…

ADF STAFF Tunisia in early September received four Textron C-208 aircraft from the United States government. Equipped with control, surveillance and reconnaissance systems, the aircraft are used for intelligence missions. The…

ADF STAFF The Saloum River delta in Senegal is a vast region of sun-drenched salt marshes, brackish estuaries and hundreds of islands. Bursting with wildlife and thick, green mangrove forests, it could provide the perfect cover for the…

ADF STAFF A new Russian news service is drawing criticism for spreading misleading and harmful information in Africa. The African Initiative is an online platform with deep ties to the notorious Russian mercenary outfit formerly known as…

ADF STAFF As children prepared to return to school in Cameroon, a wave of violence swept through the Northwest and Southwest regions, sparking fears of a worsening conflict. The surge in fighting began in August, when separatists from the…