ADF

Russian cargo aircraft were tracked making at least 167 flights to five Algerian air bases between March 2025 and April 2026. Many of Moscow’s aircraft using the bases are connected to the United Aircraft Corp., Russia’s state-owned maker of military jets. According to Defense News magazine, these flights roughly coincided with the deliveries of several types of Russian-made warplanes to Algeria, where the jets have been seen and heard thundering over the countryside near the Oum El Bouaghi Air Base. The shadowy Kremlin fleet is known as “Air Wagner” in reference to Russian mercenaries engaged in African conflict zones. The…

Boko Haram’s Jama’atu Ahlis-Sunna Lidda’Awati Wal-Jihad (JAS) and other terror groups are increasingly launching attacks around Nigeria’s forested Borgu-Kainji axis. Analysts say these groups are using tactics long employed in the Lake Chad basin and are establishing a foothold in the sprawling area linking northwest to southwest Nigeria. In recent years, terrorists have used Kainji Lake National Park, a 5,300-square-kilometer former tourist attraction, as a base to launch attacks in the porous tri-border region Nigeria shares with Benin and Niger, according to the Institute for Security Studies (ISS). The Borgu Game Reserve is located within the park. The number of violent events…

When terrorists attacked fuel tankers in the town of Diboli in 2025, just steps from Mali’s western border, the long-feared spillover of Sahelian violence appeared to be at Senegal’s doorstep. The country’s national gendarmerie responded in April 2026 by dispatching three new rapid surveillance and intervention units in the Kédougou and Tambacounda regions that border Mali. But experts agree that nonmilitary approaches also are needed to bolster the resilience of border communities. Boucar Baba Ndiaye spent more than a decade in community peace-building initiatives in the restive Casamance area in southern Senegal. The former country coordinator for the Justice and…

Ordering a complete halt to all gold-mining activities, Cameroon recently took sweeping measures to take back control of industrial and artisanal gold mining from Chinese companies that have come to dominate the sector. “The era of fraudulent gold mining in Cameroon is over,” the Ministry of Mines, Industry and Technological Development declared in an April 4 statement. Before operations can resume, mining companies are required to meet minimum monthly production targets, transition to closed-circuit processing systems within six months, and pay an up-front environmental bond of more than $112,000. “These measures aim to restructure the sector not only to control…

Malian terrorist group Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin’s tactic of blockading roads and burning convoys of trucks appears designed to undermine the legitimacy of the Malian government, following a model used by other terrorists. Those roads are crucial lifelines of fuel, food and other resources for the population. Over the last year, JNIM has attacked convoys entering from Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea and Senegal as part of an economic blockade. JNIM also has developed a pattern of blockading communities deemed loyal to the government while rewarding communities that it views as collaborators. It also recruits new members from rural communities where young…

Four Mexican nationals were among 11 people arrested at an elaborate crystal methamphetamine production facility in a small farming town in South Africa’s North West Province in mid-May. Authorities seized 481 kilograms of meth and estimated the drug laboratory to be worth at least 1 billion rand ($61 million). Authorities could not locate the property’s owners. According to the South African Police Service, it was the fourth drug laboratory discovered in South Africa with alleged Mexican links. South Africa is considered one of the world’s largest consumer markets for crystal meth, locally known as “tik.” Observers such as local anti-crime…

The rival Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) are engaged in intense propaganda battles across broadcast and cyberspace as each seeks to build support for their side of the 3-year-old Sudan war. “The SAF and RSF have engaged in a virtual war on social media and traditional media platforms to shape domestic and international opinions to their advantage … since the first day of the war,” analyst Hamid Khalafallah wrote for the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy. Along with their own media channels, each side relies on supporters to amplify the propaganda. Other groups…

Mali’s ruling junta and its Russian backers recently launched airstrikes on Kidal, the northern city controlled since late April by the Tuareg-dominated Azawad Liberation Front, known by its French acronym, FLA. The attack was a response to losing control of the city after a joint force of fighters from the FLA and Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) drove out the Malian Army and Russia’s Africa Corps, which had held the city since 2023. Kidal is the heart of the Tuareg homeland, which spans parts of the Sahara Desert and Sahel and includes sections of Algeria, Mali, Mauritania and Niger. While…

Transnational terror groups know how to find weak spots on the map. They look for regions that are isolated because countries do not cooperate militarily or share intelligence. They move along lightly guarded borders. They seek out people who feel underserved and forgotten by their government. They look for communities beset by cultural and political divisions. These are the ingredients necessary for terrorism to thrive, and the mixture is quite strong in the Sahel.  In recent years, the Sahel has been the global epicenter of terrorism, accounting for nearly half of the world’s terror-related deaths. Military coups in Burkina Faso,…

Dr. Workneh Gebeyehu of Ethiopia, executive secretary of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), addressed the Regional Consultative Seminar on Harnessing Artificial Intelligence and Cybersecurity for Security, Cooperation, and Resilience in Nairobi, Kenya, on June 18, 2025. His remarks have been edited for length and clarity. Across our region, we face complex security challenges, and these range from transnational crime and terrorism to cybercrime and border management gaps. Nevertheless, even within these challenges lies the opportunity for innovation through artificial intelligence and cyber-security solutions. The future of regional security belongs to those who harness AI. I challenge us all to…