ADF

ADF Staff Peacekeeping missions remain the answer to many of the world’s toughest security challenges. But there is a growing consensus that to remain relevant, peacekeeping needs to adapt.  In places such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Mali and South Sudan, United Nations missions have stretched on for a decade or more. These large, multidimensional stabilization missions typically include 10 or more troop-contributing countries and cost as much as $1.5 billion per year.  Instead of monitoring a cease-fire as many missions did in decades past, peacekeepers are being asked to take on insurgencies, militias or extremist groups.…

ADF STAFF Botswana has remained one of the most peaceful countries on the African continent for decades. But stability and prosperity should not lull nations into complacency about security at home or in their regions. The Botswana Defence Force (BDF) already has a contingent serving in the multinational Southern African Development Community Mission in Mozambique, where extremists have maintained a fierce armed insurgency in the north for years. Keeping forces ready for domestic and regional responses, as well as peacekeeping duties, is essential. To that end, the BDF took part in Joint Combined Exchange Training (JCET) with U.S. Special Operations…

ADF STAFF Tanyuy Etienne is a mental health specialist who treats victims of gender-based violence in Cameroon’s Northwest region, where a civil war continues into its sixth year. He says he has treated 30 women and girls — some as young as 9 years old — who were raped by security forces or members of armed groups. “A lot of people are living with post-traumatic stress disorder because of the crisis,” he told The Associated Press. Summary executions, rape and torture are among the abuses that civilians are suffering at the hands of security forces, Anglophone separatists and militias, according…

ADF STAFF Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has vowed to wage “total war” against al-Shabaab, but the extremist group continues to launch brazen attacks targeting civilians and security forces. Between May 27 and June 23, the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED) recorded more than 200 attacks or instances of violence linked to the terrorist group in Somalia. More than 700 people died in the attacks. Most of the violence was in the Lower Shabelle region, which surrounds Mogadishu, where al-Shabaab launched dozens of attacks against African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS) troops. ATMIS has until December…

ADF STAFF The recent mutiny by Russia’s Wagner Group and potential changes to the mercenary group’s operations in Africa could make room for China to expand its own private security footprint on the continent, according to experts. Since 2010, China has deployed a small but growing number of private security companies (PSCs) across Africa, primarily to protect projects built under its Belt and Road Initiative. While exact numbers are hard to come by, experts estimate that 20 to 40 Chinese PSCs operate outside of China. They have been documented in 14 African countries, most of them in East Africa or…

ADF STAFF As masses of Sudanese citizens attempt to flee from violence across the border to Chad, members of the Masalit ethnic group report that gunmen are blocking them from leaving. “The militiamen ask those fleeing about their tribal background,” one unidentified woman told Radio Dabanga recently. “Masalit are not allowed to cross the border to Chad.” Members of other ethnic groups may cross after inspections. More than 10 militia checkpoints line the road between El Geneina, the capital of West Darfur, and the Chadian border. Along the way, gunmen are reportedly taking mobile phones and money from those who…

ADF STAFF About a week after fighting broke out in mid-April in Sudan, jailed members of the regime of former dictator Omar al-Bashir walked out of prison. They had been detained in Khartoum’s Kober prison since 2019 and, for some, their release signaled an alarming new dimension to the conflict. Observers are concerned that Islamist elements of the former regime, including the prisoners, provoked the fighting and remain behind the violence in the capital and Darfur region, Amgad Farid, former executive assistant of Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok and pro-democracy activist, told OrientXXI. “They have always been active; they have always…

ADF STAFF Government officials in the Central African Republic (CAR) were shocked when Yevgeny Prigozhin turned his infamous Wagner Group mercenaries against Russian President Vladimir Putin. Desperate for information, cabinet members called CAR military officers and Russian military instructors. Some feared it was the beginning of a Russian civil war that could lead to their own downfall. “Yes, there are Wagner mercenaries [in CAR], and everyone is worried that the face-off between Putin and Prigozhin would bring an end to their operations in our country,” an advisor to President Faustin-Archange Touadéra told The Daily Beast website. “Everyone feared that if…

ADF STAFF The South African Air Force (SAAF) is moving forward with creating a Space Command Section (SASCS) to manage and coordinate defense-related space activities with the South African National Space Agency (SANSA). As defenceWeb reported, the SASCS will help the air force identify and respond to threats posed by aircraft, missiles and drones, as leaders understand the increasing role of space in modern warfare. It is expected to support development across various sectors, including telecommunications, agriculture and environmental monitoring. The space agency monitors the space environment over southern Africa, the Atlantic and Indian oceans and the South Pole. “By…

ADF STAFF The African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS) has successfully handed over six forward operating bases (FOBs) to Somali security forces, as it concluded the first phase of withdrawing 2,000 troops from the country at the end of June. The six FOBs are Xaaji Cali, Miirtugo, Cadale, Albao, Gherille and Aljazeera 1. Another one, Marka Ayub, was closed. In the second phase, 3,000 more troops are expected to withdraw by the end of September. ATMIS has until December 2024 to hand over full security responsibilities to Somalia. The most pressing security challenge in Somalia is the fight against…