ADF

As African countries stake their claim to space by developing satellites, China has folded space missions into its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Experts note, however, that space-related cooperation comes with debt, operating costs and other financial risks associated with other BRI projects. “China’s space collaborations are structured to advance its own industrial and military goals at the cost of asymmetric outcomes to foreign partners,” researchers Cortney Weinbaum, Christopher G. Pernin, Camille Reeves, Libby Weaver and Shanshan Mei wrote in a recent Rand Corp. report. Countries that work with China on space projects typically find that funding depends on using…

The alliance between the Azawad Liberation Front (FLA) Tuareg-led separatist movement and the al-Qaeda-affiliated Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) terror group is reshaping the dynamics of Malian conflict. The groups’ coordination was clear on April 25 when they attacked the northeastern desert town of Kidal, forcing Malian soldiers and Russian Africa Corps mercenaries to retreat. That day, they also attacked Bamako, the national capital, and Kati, both in the southwest; Gao, in the northeast; and Mopti and Sévaré in central Mali. The Kati assault killed Gen. Sadio Camara, Mali’s defense minister and veterans affairs minister. On July 5, the groups attacked…

The Ebola outbreak that started in the northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo about four months ago had sickened more than 6,000 people and killed nearly 3,000 by the end of August as the virus spread to the country’s sixth province. The outbreak is now considered the fastest-growing one yet in the DRC, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), although the true extent of the outbreak is not known. It was declared on May 15, but the WHO says sequencing showed it began in February. The West African Ebola outbreak killed 11,325 people from 2014 to 2016. Tom Fletcher,…

Daniel Ángel Masie Nchama is one of the few lucky ones. The 22-year-old computer science student from Equatorial Guinea was tricked into fighting for Russia on the front lines in Ukraine and lived to tell his tale. A Cameroonian named Fabrice recruited Nchama with the promise of a job as a bodyguard in Russia. He left with 37 other African recruits in December 2025. When they arrived in Murmansk in the far north, they were given a Russian-language contract to sign. “We said we couldn’t sign documents we didn’t understand,” Nchama told Agence France-Presse. “They insisted, saying it was too…

More than 1,000 kilometers separate Islamic State group (IS) affiliates in the Lake Chad Basin and the Liptako-Gourma corner of the Alliance of Sahel States (AES). However, analysts say the two groups increasingly are able to work together because of porous borders and a lack of regional security cooperation. In recent months, Lake Chad-based Islamic State West African Province (ISWAP) has invested time and manpower supporting the Islamic State Sahel Province (ISSP), which is based where Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger come together. That help includes plans to send 100 ISWAP fighters to buttress ISSP in the Ménaka region after…

Since Sudan’s civil war began in 2022, mercenaries from Chad, Ethiopia, Libya and South Sudan have operated in the country along with some from distant nations. They include fighters from Russia’s Wagner Group who already had gold interests there, rival Ukrainian drone operators who worked for both sides, and freelancers from the Sahel. New reporting has revealed that Colombian mercenaries accused of committing atrocities in Sudan were recruited and trained by a shadow network based in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The Financial Times (FT) newspaper interviewed seven Colombian mercenaries who requested anonymity before detailing their deployment to Sudan. Some…

Botswana Defence Force (BDF) intelligence personnel analyzed the threat report as it came in on August 12: Unidentified drones were operating near critical infrastructure. Fortunately, it was a simulation. The training was part of Southern Accord, a joint exercise held biennially by the BDF and United States military. The six-day event was aimed at strengthening security in Botswana and Southern Africa through better cooperation and interoperability. This year’s iteration focused on counterterrorism, counterinsurgency, space and cyberspace domain awareness, crisis response planning, and whole-of-government coordination. It ran from August 10 to 15 with an opening ceremony at Gaborone Technical College, where…

Sahel terrorists are targeting gold mines and surrounding communities in search of revenue, recruits and weaponry such as explosives. In some cases, the terrorists have built bases nearby. Rather than attack mines directly, Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) and Islamic State Sahel Province (ISSP) have staked their claims to nearby communities in different parts of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, along with the roads that connect mining areas to each other and to the outside world. The groups target industrial and artisanal mining areas. “As militant groups expand into new areas, they rarely focus on mines alone,” Héni Nsaibia, West…

Experts and officials are grappling with the future of African peacekeeping operations amid a new reality of rising terrorism and shrinking international funding. Financial support and personnel for United Nations peacekeeping operations dropped to a 25-year low in 2025, according to a May report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). The U.N. deployed just 78,633 peacekeepers as of December 2025, which is 49% less than in 2016, and the lowest level since at least 2000. The numbers have been declining throughout the past decade, but 2025 saw the sharpest year-on-year drop at 17%. “If things continue in this…

Armed pirates in mid-August boarded and seized a cargo vessel about 4 nautical miles off the Somali coast. About a month earlier, pirates seized a Tanzanian-flagged tanker in the Gulf of Aden and took it toward Somalia’s autonomous Puntland region. Between April and July 2026, the United Nations’ International Maritime Bureau recorded 24 attempted and actual incidents of piracy and armed robbery against ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, posing higher risks for global shipping. “In recent months, we have seen a peak in the piracy events in the area,” a spokesperson for the European Naval Force…