ADF

West Africa’s eighth successful coup in the last five years took place in Guinea-Bissau on November 26. Just 11 days later, the too-familiar sight of uniformed Soldiers appeared on Beninese state television just after 2 a.m. on December 7, as a mutinous faction of the military announced their putsch. This time, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) swiftly took military action to intervene. “Beninese loyalist forces repelled the initial assault, but the situation required careful handling to avoid needless civilian casualties,” Beninese Foreign Minister Olushegun Bakari said in a briefing on the sidelines of a scheduled ECOWAS meeting…

The al-Qaida-linked terror group al-Shabaab has surrounded Mogadishu and threatens to seize Somalia’s national capital with ongoing, brazen attacks in and around the city, according to a recent report. In early October, the group used a car disguised as a military vehicle to bomb a branch of the Somali National Intelligence and Security Agency (NISA), destroying valuable intelligence and releasing dozens of prisoners. The attack occurred near the presidential palace. A July attack targeted a military base in Mogadishu. Al-Shabaab checkpoints now surround Mogadishu’s outskirts, and the group controls about 30% of Somalia’s territory. Mogadishu is now “essentially a metropolis…

After many years on the periphery of transnational crime, Africa has become a global hub and destination point for trafficking in drugs, natural resources and weapons. Porous borders, underfunded law enforcement, government corruption and chronic instability have contributed to Africa’s increasing prominence in global transnational crime, according to researchers with the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime (GI-TOC). In the Africa Organised Crime Index 2025, GI-TOC researchers studied changes in a mix of crimes between 2019 and 2025. Within that period, they determined: “Africa has become deeply embedded in the global criminal economy, serving as a source, transit hub and…

Shortly after the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) drove the rival Rapid Support Forces (RSF) out of Wad Madani earlier this year, bodies began appearing in regional agricultural canals. Some were naked, others dressed in civilian clothes. Some had their hands bound. Many had been shot in the head. Witnesses told investigators that SAF fighters had moved through the area declaring individuals to be collaborators as they went. On the other side of the country, in the RSF-dominated Darfur region, starvation and thirst kill displaced non-Arab civilians daily in one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. Deep into its second year,…

The Kenya Navy in late October seized 1,024 kilograms of methamphetamine from a vessel it intercepted 630 kilometers off the coast of Mombasa in the Indian Ocean. Authorities hailed it as a record haul. Drug trafficking, piracy, and illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing are ongoing threats in East African waters and theWestern Indian Ocean. Exercise Usalama Baharini 2025, a maritime security training operation held November 17 to 20 at the Bandari Maritime Academy in Mombasa, was meant to address such threats. The first Usalama Baharini exercise was in May 2024. Usalama Baharini means “safety at sea” in Swahili. European Union Naval…

Three Chinese nationals had 10 gold bars and $400,000 in cash in January 2025 when they were arrested in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo and charged with crimes related to illegal mining. They were later convicted in Bukavu of money laundering and the illegal purchase and possession of mineral substances. They were fined $600,000, sentenced to seven years in prison and will be banned from the DRC upon their release. Their convictions confirmed that Chinese illicit financiers operate in DRC conflict zones, where the M23 rebel group fights Congolese forces, attacks civilians, and smuggles looted minerals through Rwanda…

Few in attendance were as excited as Dr. Sabin Nsanzimana to take part in the official groundbreaking ceremony to announce construction of the National Veterinary Reference Laboratory in Kigali, Rwanda. Nsanzimana was appointed minister of health in 2022, when Rwanda, like the rest of the world, still was feeling the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Nsanzimana, a physician and epidemiologist, previously led the Rwanda Biomedical Centre and is co-chairman of the Pandemic Fund’s governing board. The Pandemic Fund directed a $24.9 million grant to Rwanda, which includes $3 million for construction of the high-security BSL-3 biolab that aims to strengthen…

As internet access expands, African nations have become a laboratory for malicious actors worldwide who are developing new cyberattacks and committing cybercrimes. A new report by the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime (GI-TOC) found sharp growth in cybercrime across the continent between 2023 and 2025 with Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa — sub-Saharan Africa’s most online countries — under nearly constant attack by cybercriminals. “Cyber criminals are increasingly using Africa as a testing ground for new types of ransomware and other cyber-dependent attacks,” GI-TOC researchers wrote in their report. Over the past 20 years, internet access across African nations…

Mali’s military junta has failed to stem the momentum of the Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) terror group, and analysts say the group is likely to continue pressing westward and southward imperiling more countries. In late October, the al-Qaida-affiliated terrorist group recorded its first attack in Nigeria, where it claimed to kill a Nigerian Soldier in Kwara State. On December 6 and 9, JNIM attacked two fuel convoys on the Bougouni axis, a main supply corridor linking Bamako to Côte d’Ivoire. According to Bakary Sambe, president of the Timbuktu Institute think tank, JNIM has flourished due to Malian counterterrorism failures, including…

Special Operations Forces operate in small, agile units, under a shroud of secrecy and with little external support. Because of their high-risk, low-profile missions they sometimes are known as “silent warriors.” But for a week during an exercise in Nairobi, they formed a true community as SOF operators from across Africa and the globe joined to share knowledge and build a professional network. Approximately 400 attendees, including SOF commanders from 32 African nations and 14 international partners, gathered from December 8 to 11 for Silent Warrior 2025, the continent’s premier special forces conference. They were urged to find new ways…