ADF

ADF STAFF The fields around Djibo in northern Burkina Faso are empty: The farmers cannot leave the city to work them. Djibo, along with other communities in the countryside, is under blockade by militants who accuse residents of siding with the government. The blockade has reduced Djibo’s food supplies by as much as 65% and crippled its health care system. At the same time, the community near the Malian border has become a refuge for people fleeing extremist violence elsewhere. Most of Djibo’s 360,000 residents are from surrounding communities; half are children. Once an important commercial hub for the region,…

ADF STAFF Years of military missions have left civilian and political factions frustrated with intractable violence from a stew of armed groups operating in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Now the East Africa Community Regional Force (EACRF), led by a contingent of the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF), is preparing to depart. A new force, organized and deployed by the Southern African Development Community (SADC), will try its hand at bringing peace and stability to the region. Early on, the EACRF appeared at odds with the president and the people of the DRC. On December 3, Kenyan troops…

ADF STAFF Northern Mozambique’s Nangade district has been one of the country’s most volatile areas throughout the conflict in the Cabo Delgado province. Only six of the district’s 51 villages have been untouched by violence since fighting erupted about five years ago. Insurgents in January 2023 kidnapped eight people as they worked in their fields in the village of Chacamba. Seven captives were released, but the eighth was beheaded, the Club of Mozambique newspaper reported. From February to May, however, the district enjoyed a tenuous calm as troops with the Mozambican Defense and Security Forces (FDS), Southern African Development Community Mission…

ADF STAFF During its more than two-year intervention in Mozambique, Rwanda has attempted to do something difficult: defeat an insurgency while avoiding civilian casualties. According to a new study, there is evidence that it is succeeding, and its approach may offer a blueprint for future peace enforcement operations. In 2021, Rwanda deployed 1,000 troops to Mozambique’s northern Cabo Delgado province at the request of Mozambican President Felipe Nyusi. Over time its force grew to 2,500, including police, and has worked parallel to a force deployed by the Southern African Development Community. Based primarily out of Palma and Mocímboa da Praia,…

DEFENCEWEB Senegal’s Armed Forces took delivery of a second C295 transport aircraft from Airbus eight months after receiving the first. The new aircraft arrived at Dakar Air Base at the end of March 2023 and was received by Defence Minister Sidiki Kaba.  Kaba said the aircraft’s short takeoff and landing capabilities and its versatility allow it to carry out different missions such as transport, paratrooping and medical evacuation. The new aircraft will strengthen the transport capacity of Senegal’s military and support domestic and international missions. Senegalese officials said the acquisition demonstrated the country’s willingness to modernize its military to meet…

DEFENCEWEB The Zambia Air Force has ordered two turbine-powered Enstrom 480B helicopters for training pilots and personnel. Enstrom Helicopter Corp., a U.S. company, announced the sale in April 2023. The helicopters will be based in Lusaka and used for training and utility missions. A training package is included in the deal.  The helicopters will be equipped with cargo hooks and space for cameras, as well as Garmin avionics and glass panels.  South Africa’s Safomar Aviation Group coordinated and assisted Enstrom in the sale to Zambia, including logistics, specifications and configuration of the helicopters. Safomar operates a large regional maintenance, repair…

ADF STAFF Aerospace manufacturer Pratt & Whitney will launch an affiliate, Pratt & Whitney Maroc, in Casablanca, Morocco, to manufacture engine parts. The U.S.-based company said the goal is to “develop cost-effective sourcing capabilities for competitiveness and to optimise operations footprint and asset utilization,” according to defenceWeb. The company selected Morocco “due to its growing hub of aerospace companies, cost of business and trained, available talent.” The company said the new plant would create 200 jobs by 2030. It will be built in Casablanca’s Aerospace Focused Free Zone, an industrial park specifically targeting aerospace production systems. The free zone was…

ADF STAFF A new tool uses artificial intelligence to monitor and forecast flooding around the world.  Twenty-three African countries are participating in Google’s Flood Hub artificial intelligence platform. Google launched the platform in 2021, and it expanded to include 80 countries in 2023. It is designed to help disaster management agencies evacuate people up to a week before floodwaters hit and strengthen flood prevention measures in some of the continent’s most at-risk areas. “Governments, aid organisations, and individuals can use Flood Hub to take timely action and prepare for riverine floods, seeing locally relevant flood data and forecasts up to seven…

REUTERS In an effort to stop poachers and others who poison wildlife, Zambia’s Department of National Parks and Wildlife is turning to an unlikely ally: vultures.  Park rangers at Kafue National Park tag white-backed and hooded vultures with satellite trackers to alert wildlife managers of poached or poisoned carcasses. In many parts of Africa, livestock owners poison cow carcasses with an agricultural pesticide to kill the predator cats that come to feast. This is viewed as a way to stop lions from attacking their cattle.  But the carcasses also attract the critically endangered white-backed vultures, whose population has declined by more…

DEFENCEWEB A study by a researcher at Stellenbosch University found that the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) is vulnerable to cyberattacks and must increase cybersecurity awareness among military officers, offer appropriate training and buy the required technology.  “Military officers are vulnerable to being misled or even forced by nefarious online actors to share sensitive information about operational activities,” said Dr. Kyle Bester, a research psychologist and cybersecurity awareness training specialist who conducted the study for his thesis at Stellenbosch. “They could also create involuntary or voluntary points of access for malicious software through which these actors could enter the…