ADF

The signs of a growing naval partnership between Tanzania and the United States were all over Tanga, the East African country’s second-largest seaport and a core location for maritime security operations in the region. While Cutlass Express 2026, a multilateral maritime security training exercise sponsored by U.S. Africa Command, was taking place off the coast of northern Tanzania and across the western Indian Ocean in February, the two countries further cemented their bond when Chargé d’Affaires Andrew Lentz of the U.S. Embassy handed over a new naval vessel maintenance facility in Tanga. Commander of the Tanzania People’s Defence Force (TPDF)…

At Okomu National Park in Nigeria’s southwestern Edo State, authorities have found a new approach to protect the forest from illegal logging and wildlife poachers: They’re hiring former loggers and poachers to patrol the park. Africa Nature Investors (ANI), a Nigerian nongovernmental organization, took over management of Okomu in 2022. Since then, its rangers have arrested more than 200 illegal loggers and poachers. “We will bring illegal hunting and logging to the smallest, barest minimum,” Peter Abanyam, ANI park director, told Agence France-Presse (AFP). By some estimates, Nigeria has lost 96% of its original forests. Illegal logging of tropical hardwoods…

Dozens of anguished families of Kenyans tricked into fighting for the Russian Army in Ukraine held a vigil in Nairobi to demand government action. Some called for the safe return of their kin. Others just wanted information or remains. Bibiana Wangari said her 31-year-old son, Charles Waithaka, was among those killed in the fighting after he was lured to Russia with false promises of a lucrative job as a mechanic. Upon arrival he was given a Russian-language contract to sign and sent to a military base. Recounting his last message home, Wangari told France 24 television: “He said, ‘As we…

Nigeria was shaken after members of a Boko Haram offshoot killed about 200 people and kidnapped 38 on February 3. Some of the victims were shot to death, others were burned alive. Survivors said jihadists had sent a letter demanding that villagers embrace their strict interpretation of Islam and were infuriated when community leaders declined. Woro is predominantly Muslim, and about 90% of those killed in the attack were Muslims. Days after the massacre, Nigeria’s Punch newspaper identified Abubakar Saidu, locally known as Sadiku, as the leader of the attack. Sadiku heads the Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati wal-Jihad (JAS) terror…

Sahel terror groups  have long used forests to hide, stock up on natural resources and establish bases. Increasingly, these groups are using forests for recruitment, financing, smuggling, logistics and organizing parallel governance, according to the Observer Research Foundation (ORF). Analysts say the use of forests has led to the rapid expansion of terrorist violence across the Sahel and into new areas in West Africa from groups such as the al-Qaida-linked Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM), the Islamic State Sahel Province (ISSP) and Boko Haram. In February, the Boko Haram-affiliated Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati wal-Jihad, or JAS, terror group killed nearly…

Known across social media platforms as “lion cubs” (“shibli” in Arabic), child soldiers have become a recruitment tool for both sides in Sudan’s civil war in violation of international law. “They’ve become famous, almost equivalent to Disney child stars in the U.S., where everybody knows their name,” analyst Mia Bloom recently told the British open-source investigative cooperative Bellingcat. Bloom, a professor of communication and Middle East studies at Georgia State University, is a leading expert on armed groups’ exploitation and recruitment of children. She added that child soldiers become powerful tools for recruiting adults and young people into armed groups.…

Russia’s war in Ukraine has drained its weapons supplies, including some slated for export to Africa. China has filled this vacuum by supplying low-cost weapons to countries with a track record of human right abuses and other offenses. In 2024, China eclipsed Russia as the largest exporter of arms to Sub-Saharan Africa. Beijing’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and Chinese private security companies facilitate the flow of arms. Chinese deals are not governed by International Traffic in Arms regulations, and Beijing is known to include weapons to sweeten other deals or improve diplomatic and trade relations as it makes new allies…

Too often peacebuilding efforts leave out the group with the biggest stake in the continent’s future: its young people. But that is starting to change. Africa’s first generation of citizens to grow up with the internet is using its digital know-how and familiarity with the online environment to build systems aimed at countering false information, preventing conflict and working toward peaceful solutions to chronic problems. “Today, constant access to social media and online platforms enables youth to mobilize their communities, participate directly in peace processes outside formal hierarchies and exercise agency in digital spaces,” researcher Emmaculate A Liaga wrote recently…

As foreign powers sign business deals and deepen diplomatic ties in Africa, one foreign player operates mostly behind the scenes: Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). “The IRGC, the regime’s military-intelligence empire, has spent forty years constructing a shadow network across Africa, embedding itself in local conflicts, recruiting ideological loyalists, arming insurgent movements, and turning entire regions into extensions of Tehran’s strategic project,” according to a blog post by Iranian-born journalist Shabnam Assadollahi. The group’s many efforts include ideological indoctrination in northern Nigeria, arms smuggling in Sudan and terror plots elsewhere. The seeds of IRGC influence in Nigeria can be…

In the defense sector, the threat and promise of artificial intelligence is everywhere. AI-powered facial recognition can identify a terrorist in a crowded train station. AI-enabled satellite surveillance can find an insurgent hideout in a vast desert. The technology can spot an illegal fishing boat based on its movement or even predict vehicle breakdowns before they occur. Perhaps the most attention-grabbing aspect is the use of AI-controlled weapons to select a target and apply force without a human operator. In light of this AI explosion, the Africa Center for Strategic Studies created an “AI Toolkit” for Africa’s defense professionals. The…