ADF

ADF STAFF Political instability, disputes between farmers and herders, unemployment, ethnic divisions, and the rise of extremist organizations are among the factors driving the spread of small arms and light weapons in the Sahel and West Africa. Experts who participated in a webinar titled “Drivers and Impact of Arms Trafficking in West Africa” had various ideas on how to control the proliferation of weapons, but all agreed it starts with improved security. The event was hosted by the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) in mid-October. The rise of violent extremist groups and other armed groups precipitated the demand for small…

ADF STAFF Kenya’s Chinese-built Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) was supposed to be an economic engine for East Africa, linking the middle of the continent to the port at Mombasa. Instead, the SGR has become a financial burden that consumes an ever-increasing chunk of the nation’s revenue. Although passengers praise the 480-kilometer railway, the SGR’s lifeblood is supposed to be cargo. In that regard it has failed to live up to expectations since it opened in 2017. Construction stopped far short of Uganda when repayment concerns caused Chinese lenders to throttle SGR financing. The railway now ends near Naivasha, more than…

ADF STAFF Just 2,700 kilometers separate northeastern Brazil from the western coast of Africa. Traffickers use this proximity to move cocaine, hashish and heroin through West African ports on to destinations all over the world. Drugs are just part of the picture, however. Africa serves as a destination and a transit point for a host of crimes, from arms smuggling and human trafficking to illegal logging and wildlife crime. Africa’s location makes it an ideal conduit for illicit material moving from Asia or South America to Europe and North America, according to analysts with ENACT, Enhancing Africa’s Response to Transnational…

ADF STAFF With cybercrime growing rapidly across Africa, the Ghana Armed Forces plans to launch a Directorate of Cyber and Electronic Warfare Operations to protect the nation’s military from cyberattacks and to expand the country’s ability to detect and shut down online criminal activity. The GAF is part of Ghana’s Joint Cybersecurity Committee created in 2020 to identify and respond to cyber threats. Ghana ranks among the top countries in Africa for cybersecurity. It is one of only 14 countries to sign the Africa Union Convention on Cyber Security and Personal Data Protection. The International Telecommunication Union’s Global Cybersecurity Index…

ADF STAFF Peacekeepers are on the move across Africa. But rather than rushing in to quell violence, they are withdrawing from some of the continent’s worst conflict hotspots — the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Mali and Somalia. Experts question whether these countries and their neighbors are ready for the end of the multilateral missions and are warning of security vacuums that could be extremely difficult to fill with internal and regional forces. The two United Nations missions — MONUSCO in the DRC and MINUSMA in Mali — and the African Union’s ATMIS force in Somalia are in various…

ADF STAFF Two Malian Army aircraft came under gunfire from rebels in mid-August when they landed at a United Nations Multidimensional Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) camp in Tessalit. While the Malian Army said the attack was repelled without much difficulty, it came as MINUSMA was withdrawing from the camp. The U.N. mission also is withdrawing from another base in Aguelhok, also in the Kidal region, where Tuareg rebels have controlled swaths of area since 2013. The rebels continuously battle Malian forces and attacks in northern Mali have intensified since MINUSMA completed the first phase of its withdrawal in August.…

ADF STAFF Seven Nigerien Soldiers died during a late September battle with hundreds of insurgents on motorbikes in Kandadji, a southwestern Nigerien town near the tri-border area with Burkina Faso and Mali. Five more Soldiers died in a traffic wreck as they responded to the fighting. Although it was not clear who launched the attack, both the Jama’at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin (JNIM) and Islamic State Sahel (IS Sahel) extremist groups operate in the area, which has emerged as the epicenter of insurgencies in the region. Terrorist groups, particularly JNIM, have used motorbikes in swarming attacks throughout the region for…

ADF STAFF The battle to control the Sudanese Armed Forces’ (SAF) Al Shajara Armored Corps base in southeast Khartoum cost dozens of lives and revealed a disturbing new aspect of the ongoing fight between the country’s two warring generals. Among the dead were child soldiers fighting for the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). Since that battle in August, the specter of children fighting and dying in Sudan’s conflict has begun to receive more attention. In September, the SAF released 30 child soldiers to the International Committee of the Red Cross. The children were among 230 captured during battles with the RSF,…

ADF STAFF Sahle-Work Zewde may hold a largely ceremonial role as Ethiopia’s president, but she succinctly captured the plight of Africa’s second-most-populous country when she recently addressed parliament. “We have not succeeded in creating a national narrative that would bring us together,” she said in the opening session on October 9. “We have remained divided and have failed to accommodate our differences, resulting in conflicts and wars with irreplaceable costs.” Political violence and ethnic and territorial disputes have torn Ethiopia apart for years. But in the wake of a bloody, two-year civil war, the country is looking for dialogue, reconciliation…

ADF STAFF Ugandan authorities on October 15 prevented the Allied Democratic Forces from bombing two churches in central Kibbi, about 50 kilometers west of Kampala, the national capital. The bombs were linked to public address systems and sent to pastors disguised as gifts. However, members of the public were suspicious of the devices and alerted police, according to Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, who blamed the plot on the terrorist organization. The Allied Democratic Forces is linked to the Islamic State group (IS) and frequently targets Christians in its propaganda. “The evil plan was foiled,” Museveni said on X, formerly Twitter.…