ADF

ADF STAFF More than 100 Malian Armed Forces (FAMA) vehicles deployed in a slow-moving convoy from the city of Gao on October 2. Their ultimate destination: the town of Kidal, a Tuareg stronghold in the north that has been controlled by a coalition of former rebels since 2013. The two sides renewed hostilities in August after the collapse of the 2015 Algiers peace accord, which had not been fully implemented but granted some regional autonomy to Tuareg groups. Fighting and rhetoric have since escalated. “The process of irreversible occupation of Malian lands, which is part of Mali’s unity, continues and…

ADF STAFF The Nigeria Customs Service in mid-July seized 31 weapons, including pump action rifles, various pistols and 442 rounds of ammunition, at two ports in Lagos. The weapons were hidden in plastic drums and sacks of charcoal. The bust, which resulted in two arrests, was made as authorities decried the proliferation of illegal weapons into the city, as the weapons are often used in crimes such as drug trafficking, armed robbery, kidnapping, murder and sexual and gender-based violence. “Most worrisome in all these [crimes] is a noticeable trend that indicates an increasing local expertise in the [manufacture] of various…

ADF STAFF Since the death of Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin in a plane crash in August, some of its mercenaries have moved on to other organizations, while the Russian Ministry of Defense and Prigozhin’s 25-year-old son, Pavel, both claim control over the organization. “The process of fragmentation began immediately after Prigozhin’s death,” analyst Anton Mardasov, an expert with the Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC) and Middle East Institute, wrote recently for Al-Monitor. Since arriving in Africa in 2017, Wagner has spread pro-Russian propaganda and committed countless human rights violations while smuggling out gold, diamonds and timber — most recently…

ADF STAFF Ethiopia’s historic city of Gondar was the scene of a fresh round of fighting between an ethnic Amhara militia and government forces. The battle near a world heritage site threatens to plunge Ethiopia back into conflict less than a year after a peace agreement was signed to end the war in Tigray. “Fears of another war that could match or even eclipse what happened in Tigray are not misplaced if a solution is not found,” Yohannes Gedamu, a political scientist and author of a book about Ethiopia’s ethnic federalism, wrote in an essay for The Conversation. “The impact…

ADF STAFF The tiny Agaléga islands of Mauritius remain untouched by tourism and industry. Its roughly 300 residents mainly live off coconuts and fish, as they have for generations. The pair of islands are about 1,000 kilometers north of the country’s main island in a part of the southwestern Indian Ocean that is home to some of the world’s most important shipping lanes. Until 2021, the islands had only one dock for fishing boats and a small airfield, but that has changed. India recently built a major airstrip and jetty on Agaléga’s larger northern island. According to Indian news channel…

ADF STAFF When he took the podium at the United Nations General Assembly meeting on September 20, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) President Felix Tshisekedi called for an expedited withdrawal of the U.N. mission, known as MONUSCO. “It is time for our country to take full control of its destiny and become the main actor in its own stability,” he said. But experts say moving up the timetable by a year — the end of 2023 instead of the end of 2024 — is short-sighted for a number of reasons. “They are going to be replaced by regional forces,…

ADF STAFF For a brief time earlier this year, the war-weary people of the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) had reason to be optimistic about a long-promised peace process. Beginning in December 2022, the East African Community Regional Force (EACRF) oversaw the process of M23 rebels handing over bases to the peacekeeping force. But a tenuous cease-fire has not held as fighting resumed in North Kivu province in September, according to civil society spokesperson Telesphore Mithondeke. “For the past week, new waves of M23 rebels have burst into Masisi territory via neighboring Rutshuru. M23 men are returning from…

ADF STAFF New research shows that Burkina Faso’s security situation has worsened dramatically one year after the first of its two military coups. Since the coups that brought Capt. Ibrahim Traoré to power in October 2022, deaths from terrorism in Burkina Faso have tripled, according to an analysis by the Africa Center for Strategic Studies (ACSS). “This violence, coupled with the geographic spread of extremist activities effectively surrounding Ouagadougou, puts Burkina Faso more than ever at the brink of collapse,” ACSS analysts wrote in a report. Traoré’s pledge to rein in extremists in two to three months has stretched to…

ADF STAFF Rising intercommunal violence and a war in neighboring Sudan threaten South Sudan’s fragile five-year peace deal, experts say. Against this backdrop, the Advocacy Unit of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) in September joined forces with various organizations to promote peace through events held in Juba, the national capital, and Terekeka County. On September 21, International Peace Day, UNMISS and the Central Equatoria State’s Ministry of Peace Building organized a forum attended by government officials, religious leaders, academics, students and others. “If we aim to sustain peace, we must wholeheartedly uphold the rule of law, human…

ADF STAFF Military logistics professionals from 13 West African nations met in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, in September for the West Africa Logistics Conference hosted by the Ivoirian Armed Forces and United States Africa Command (AFRICOM). Representatives from Benin, Cabo Verde, Cameroon, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Nigeria, Senegal and Sierra Leone discussed solutions for common logistics and coordination challenges during the two-day conference that ended September 21. “The meeting on West African Logistics offers an excellent framework for analyzing the challenges linked to the operational engagement of our forces,” Ivoirian Director of the Defense Ministry Jean…