ADF

The Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin terror group unexpectedly stormed the northern Burkina Faso town of Djibo early May 11 and began an onslaught that killed more than 100 civilians, Soldiers and paramilitary members. The jihadists, known as JNIM, also abducted dozens of Soldiers and civilians, including women. Videos on social media showed JNIM fighters looting and destroying an Army camp and gendarmerie and police headquarters. According to the International Crisis Group, the terrorists also torched a medical center, pharmacy and market. The al-Qaida-affiliated group has gradually gained strength since its formation in 2017. Citing regional and Western officials, The Washington Post…

Moroccan Royal Armed Forces Brig. Gen. Aziz Idrissi Yazami stood in front of a packed conference room and painted a picture of the numerous security challenges facing Africa. Terrorism and extremist ideology, inter-state conflict, humanitarian crises and natural disasters are all too common across the continent and are taking place amid the proliferation of weapons and emerging technology in the hands of non-state actors. There never has been a greater need for leadership, Yazami said. His opening remarks leaned staunchly into the themes of this year’s African Senior Enlisted Conference: Resilient, Adaptive, Transformative. “It is essential that [noncommissioned officers] are…

It is around midnight and a Namibian vessel’s radar detects a foreign trawler notorious for illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing entering Namibian waters. The Namibian vessel communicates with the country’s fisheries monitoring center in Walvis Bay and the Navy and fisheries department are alerted. However, there are no law enforcement vessels near the Namibia-Angola maritime border and the foreign vessel evades authorities. This scenario unfolds routinely and no suspicious vessels have recently been apprehended and prosecuted in Namibia, reported senior researcher Carina Bruwer of Enhancing Africa’s Response to Transnational Organized Crime  project. Namibian waters are regularly targeted by foreign fishing…

In a continent brimming with conflict, Kenya stands as an example of effective peacebuilding. Borne of its own past struggles with violence, Kenya adopted a decentralized approach that focuses on community participation. It was so successful that the government institutionalized and still helps to maintain local peace committees (LPCs) today. Experts say there are valuable lessons for other countries to learn. “Kenya has been praised as a model for the world when it comes to peacebuilding efforts to manage outbreaks of violence within its borders. The country has systematically put in place a peacebuilding architecture rooted in a history of…

Shipments of high-tech weapons from Yemen’s Houthi rebels to terror groups in Somalia could undermine security across the Horn of Africa, experts say. The past year has seen a flow of drones and other weaponry across the Gulf of Aden from Yemen to Somalia at a time when al-Shabaab and Islamic State-Somalia (ISSOM) have suffered territorial losses at the hands of the Somali National Army and its allies. The capture of seven men by Puntland regional authorities in 2024 demonstrated the growing bond between Houthis and Somali terror groups. Security officials discovered that the men were transporting five kamikaze drones…

Mustafa Ibrahim was in a financial bind. The 48-year-old was a welder in a suburb of Lagos, Nigeria, but business had been slow. One night in April 2024, Ibrahim returned home and went online, where he saw a WhatsApp video of an old friend who asked viewers to join him in Burkina Faso. In the video, Ibrahim’s friend spoke knowledgeably about Burkinabe cities and glowingly of Capt. Ibrahim Traoré, Burkina Faso’s junta leader. Ibrahim was impressed by his friend’s expertise and sent him a message about jobs in Burkina Faso. “Three days later, he said I needed N1.15m [$1,775] to process…

Since arriving in Mali almost four years ago, Russia’s Wagner Group mercenaries have kidnapped, imprisoned and tortured hundreds of Malian civilians in conjunction with the country’s ruling junta. Some of those captured were held for ransom before being released to local police. Many of those in the hands of Wagner are members of the Fulani community, which has been repeatedly targeted for attacks by Soldiers and mercenaries. “Civilians have been deliberately targeted since Wagner’s arrival,” Yvan Guichaoua, a researcher at the Bonn International Centre for Conflict Studies, told investigators with the media group Forbidden Stories. “Security forces tend to view…

Zimbabwe lost one of its most experienced pilots, Ritswanetsi Vuyo Ncube, when his fighter jet crashed during what the Air Force called a “routine sortie” near the city of Gweru on May 30. In his final communication with ground control, he shouted “fire” and “aircraft uncontrollable,” an Air Force of Zimbabwe (AFZ) source told news website ZimLive. A veteran of the Second Congo War, Ncube was a retired squadron leader who rejoined the Air Force as a trainer. His death underscores the Air Force’s ongoing struggles with an aging fleet and a lack of funding, training and maintenance. “A dark…

In 2024, a United Nations monitoring team reported that the relationship between Somalia’s al-Shabaab terrorist group and Yemen’s Houthi rebels was “transactional or opportunistic, and not ideological.” In a 2025 report, the U.N. said those ties are deepening and pose a growing security threat to the Horn of Africa and Red Sea regions. “The flow of weapons from Yemen to al-Shabaab-controlled areas in Somalia continued,” the February 6 report stated. “Between June to September (2024), al-Shabaab received assorted arms, ammunition and explosives through the ports of Marka and Baraawe in [Lower] Shabelle. “The weapons were assessed to have been used…

Boko Haram terrorists have turned to cryptocurrencies, mobile money platforms and other digital tools to transfer millions of dollars, much of which it acquires using ransoms, looting and extorted cash “donations” known as zakat. Observers describe cryptocurrency and other digital financing methods as a “blind spot” in the fight against terrorism. “Boko Haram leverages cryptocurrency’s decentralized nature to fund its low-cost but deadly operations, including weapons and logistics,” analyst Oge Samuel Okonkwo wrote recently for the website Medium. “Nigeria’s robust crypto market, driven by economic necessity, facilitates this threat.” By some estimates, about a third of Nigeria’s 200 million people…