ADF

A Boko Haram faction operating in the forested communities of north-central Nigeria’s Niger State is gaining notoriety for its barbaric tactics, attacks on infrastructure, cattle rustling and ability to mix with bandits. Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati wal-Jihad (JAS) — or “People Committed to the Propagation of the Prophet’s Teachings and Jihad” — has long terrorized communities in and around the Niger State community of Shiroro, which is 128 kilometers northwest of Abuja, the national capital. In June 2024, the group killed 20 young men, beheading 10 of them, in an attack on a Shiroro village. Residents were forced to hold…

African nations are increasingly turning to space technology to address resilience and security issues such as communications, border control, wildlife protection, maritime monitoring and natural resource management. People looking to the stars for answers to terrestrial problems is not new on the continent. A nomadic group in Egypt built the Nabta Playa stone circle more than 7,000 years ago to mark the summer solstice and chart the arrival of the rainy season. Nabta Playa, which predates England’s Stonehenge, is the world’s oldest stone circle and possibly the planet’s first astronomical observatory. It now rests reassembled in Egypt’s Nubian Museum in…

Sudan’s devastating civil war intensified over the first half of 2025 as civilians continued to bear the brunt of the violence amid an out-of-control humanitarian crisis. Both the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), led by Gen. Mohamed Hamdan “Hemedti” Dagalo, and the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), led by Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, are accountable for a significant rise in civilian killings, according to a new report by the United Nations Human Rights Office. Between January 1 and June 30, 3,384 civilians died in the conflict, mostly in Darfur, followed by Kordofan and Khartoum. That number represents almost 80% of the…

In the northeastern corner of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Chinese mining companies are exploiting government corruption, driving local people from their land, and doing irreparable environmental damage in their pursuit of gold. Illegal gold mining in the Haut-Uélé province has surged since 2020. In many cases, operations that portray themselves as artisanal mining cooperatives are either backed by Chinese companies or directly operated by them, according to an investigation by Pax for Peace, a nongovernmental organization based in The Netherlands. “The cooperatives are just labels,” one unidentified official in the Watsa community told Pax. “The Chinese nationals are…

Growing ties between Yemen’s Houthi rebels and Somali terror groups threaten to fuel greater insecurity in Somalia and further disrupt shipping in the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea. Aries D. Russell of Aries Intelligence said there is “credible evidence” that Iranian and Houthi-linked networks are using Somali ports and smuggling routes to move arms into East Africa and there are indications they also offer consultation and training. “What we’re seeing is more of an influence and logistical presence, rather than a direct Houthi ground deployment into Africa,” Russell told ADF. Russell characterized the Houthis, as well as jihadist…

The Islamic State’s branch in Somalia has built a broad-based network of financing options, all of them aimed at providing the group with as much as $360,000 per month, despite the government’s attempts to disrupt its funding stream. The Somalia Financial Reporting Center (FRC) tracked more than 100 transactions tied to funding terrorists in 2024, but experts say that figure is likely only a fraction of the total number of transactions. Some of those transactions were connected to real estate purchases in Kenya. “Despite the challenges we have faced, we are committed to continuing our efforts,” the Reporting Center’s director,…

When Capt. Ibrahim Traoré seized power in Burkina Faso in 2022, he castigated the deposed junta for failing to defeat a rising tide of terrorism and promised to secure the country within months. Failing that, Traoré’s regime has found much more success in silencing critics with abductions, torture and forced conscription. The international media has been ejected from the country, while local journalists have been forced to take great caution. “Today it’s difficult to interview people on the street,” a local journalist told Agence France-Presse. “No one wants to risk being sent to the front for talking about trivial matters.…

Illegal mining in Nigeria has gained momentum and is fueling violence, especially in areas with high unemployment. Chinese nationals and corporations that collaborate with local criminal networks drive the scourge, which costs the country an estimated $9 billion annually. Entering through Nigeria’s porous borders, foreign miners make deals with criminals who offer protection in exchange for weapons and cash. This has fueled kidnappings for ransom, banditry, recruitment into criminal organizations and ongoing communal clashes. “Once criminal control of a mining site is established, it becomes a mini-fiefdom,” Kabir Adamu, a security analyst in Abuja, said in a report on Nigeria’s…

A spate of videos targeting young women for jobs in Russia recently caused an uproar in South Africa. At least 10 social media influencers began posting photos and videos in August as part of a campaign to promote the Alabuga Start program in central Russia’s Tatarstan Republic. The videos went viral, but not for their intended purpose. The influencers faced a swift backlash and a government investigation when multiple media reports revealed well-documented evidence that Alabuga Start has tricked African women into working in a military drone assembly plant to support Russia’s war on Ukraine. “We are extremely worried,” Clayson…

Experts say the recent announcement of a parallel Sudanese government run by Gen. Mohamed Hamdan “Hemedti” Dagalo, head of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, is likely to lead to more violence that could result in a Libya-style partition that takes years to resolve. Hemedti and his forces, known as the RSF, announced the parallel government based in Nyala, South Darfur, at the end of August. So far, the launch of the so-called “Hope Government” has been more symbolic than substantial. Many of the key players live outside the war-torn country and left after the announcement, according to reports. No other…