ADF

ADF STAFF Fourteen-year-old Abel and some friends were playing in the remote north Ethiopian town of Adi Hageray, in the Tigray region, when one of them found a new toy. “We were throwing it at each other,” he told the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). “It fell and exploded.” Abel and some others were injured by the device, a remnant of the civil war in Tigray that ended more than a year ago but lives on in the daily lives of civilians at risk from unexploded ordnance (UXO). Fighting in northern Ethiopia began in November 2020 in the…

ADF STAFF An extremist organization linked to the Islamic State group used improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in six attacks on military patrols in Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado province over a three-week period ending Oct. 1. The attacks in the Macomia and Mocímboa da Praia districts marked a significant uptick in Ansar al-Sunna’s use of IEDs in an insurgency that started in 2017, according to Mozambique’s Zitamar News. For years, the group typically used small arms during assaults on military and civilian targets, but that began to change when it started using roadside bombs, typically rudimentary, pressure-activated devices, in 2021. The attacks…

ADF STAFF Ghanaian leaders say a new era of military education and training has begun, as classes have commenced at the new war college amid plans to establish a full university system. President Nana Akufo-Addo laid out his vision for the National Defence University (NDU) during his address at a November 17 graduation parade at the Ghana Military Academy (GMA) in Teshie, Accra. “I’ve directed that the National Defence University be established early next year,” he said. “The university will be a multidisciplinary higher education institution that would educate personnel of the armed forces, other security agencies, governmental departments and…

ADF STAFF As a guest of honor at the opening ceremony of the Ghanaian military’s annual Exercise Eagle Claws, Maj. Gen. Thomas Oppong-Peprah reflected on the field exercise that he created in 2020. The Chief of the Army Staff of the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF), Oppong-Peprah said the purpose of the counterterrorism exercise is to develop Soldiers’ skills, tactics, techniques and practices and to prepare the military for any threat. The four-day exercise began at the air force base in Tamale, Ghana, on December 4 with Oppong-Peprah calling for an appreciation of the role of the Soldier, whom he called…

ADF STAFF Deep in Benin’s Pendjari National Park, a former luxury resort has become a military base. There, Soldiers are tracking the movements of extremists coming and going from neighboring Burkina Faso in an effort to stop a surge in violence. In recent years, Benin has seen terrorist attacks in its northern Atakora and Alibori departments as the extremism that has crippled Burkina Faso seeps south. The military that previously spent much of its time serving on peacekeeping missions has been redeployed to defend its own country. Since terrorists attacked a military outpost in Porga in 2021, the country’s leadership…

CLUES This UNESCO World Heritage Site is one of the Seven Wonders of Portuguese Origin in the World. Its port was a stopping place for explorers Vasco da Gama in 1497, on his way to India, and Christopher Columbus in 1498, on his third voyage to the Americas. Its position at the crossroads of civilizations gave rise to the first fully fledged mixed-race Creole society. Once a key port in the slave trade, it has preserved a “pillory monument” that commemorates this sad history.

U.S. Africa Command Staff When civil-military relations are out of balance, an entire nation can slide into chaos. In recent years there has been a spate of military coups in Africa. Burkina Faso, Gabon, Guinea, Mali, Niger and Sudan all experienced undemocratic transfers of power. The details are different in each country, but the pattern is the same. Coup leaders justify their actions by blaming ineffective, corrupt and authoritarian governments. Deposed civilian leaders point the finger at power-hungry soldiers. The coup leaves the nation less safe and diplomatically isolated. Experts say coups are a symptom of wider dysfunction in the…

Dr. Omar Alieu Touray, a Gambian diplomat, was appointed president of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Commission in 2022. Previously, he was ambassador and permanent representative of The Gambia to the African Union and ambassador to Ethiopia. He spoke on May 28, 2023, to mark ECOWAS Day on the 48th anniversary of its founding. His remarks have been edited for space and clarity. Every year on the 28th of May, we celebrate ECOWAS Day to honor the vision of our founding fathers and the huge sacrifice of our member states and citizens in creating a single socioeconomic…

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE After decades on the sidelines, African countries are venturing into the space industry, hoping to reap rewards in agriculture, disaster prevention and security. Côte d’Ivoire, which hosted a “NewSpace Africa Conference” in April 2023 organized by the African Union, has announced the creation of a space agency and plans to build the country’s first nanosatellite by 2024. Nanosatellites have a mass of 1 kilogram to 10 kilograms. About the same time, Kenya’s first working satellite was put into orbit by a SpaceX rocket launched from the United States. The two countries follow African pioneers South Africa, Nigeria, Algeria…

ADF staff After 18 years and three multinational peace missions, Somalia is taking full control of its own security. The African Union Transitional Mission in Somalia (ATMIS) is withdrawing troops from the embattled Horn of Africa nation. The African Union was withdrawing troops gradually and strategically, sector by sector, with an eye toward ending ATMIS by December 31, 2024. Burundi, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda contribute troops to the mission. As ATMIS troops withdrew, Somali troops were finishing training abroad. The goal was to have 15,000 Soldiers ready by the end of 2023, Hussein Sheikh-Ali, national security advisor to Somali…