ADF

ADF STAFF | photos by U.S. NAVY Divers from the U.S. Navy and the Seychelles Coast Guard (SCG) spent up to eight hours a day in December 2022 removing the wreckage of the Oceans Bounty, a ship that sank in 2018. The Seychelles Police Authority’s chief executive, Sony Payet, said the wreckage was a navigational hazard near Port Victoria and was blocking valuable pier space. “The removal of this wreck is necessary to clear the seabed in this area as the new key wall to be constructed will reach up to this point, and there will be a lot of…

GHANA NAVY Ghana has joined an international network of navies that share select unclassified information related to merchant shipping.  On November 8, 2022, the Ghana Navy signed onto the Virtual-Regional Maritime Traffic Centre and the Trans-Regional Maritime Network in a ceremony aboard the Italian Navy Ship ITS Nave Borsini. The information-sharing system is based on commercial hardware and software developed by the Italian Navy. In a speech before the signing, Rear Adm. Issah Adam Yakubu, Ghana’s chief of Naval Staff, said the Gulf of Guinea faces security challenges, and navies must know what is happening and build capacity through at…

ADF STAFF Leaders of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) agreed to create a regional force to intervene when member nations are faced with violent extremism or in the event of coups. The move is intended to “take care of our own security in the region,” Omar Alieu Touray, president of the ECOWAS Commission, told journalists at a December 2022 summit in Nigeria. ECOWAS is “determined to establish a regional force that will intervene in the event of need” to restore constitutional order in member countries, he added. The proposed ECOWAS force would be tasked with countering the…

UNMISS “If we want to truly transform and rebuild this country and a national army, we must listen to the voices of our civilians so we can restore public trust and confidence,” said Capt. Joseph James Mangar, head of the Department of Training and Advocacy on Military Justice of the South Sudan People’s Defence Forces at a January 2023 training session in Juba. His statement set the tone for a workshop organized by the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS). Its aim was to create awareness, impart skills and knowledge on human rights, and help the army build productive…

ATMIS Fifty Somali journalists based in Kismayo, Jubaland State, completed a three-day media training seminar to improve media skills and personal safety, and help them professionally report on security in their home state. The Jubaland Ministry of Information and Public Awareness facilitated the training with support from the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS). Journalists from public and private media organizations in Kismayo attended. Training modules included situational awareness, personal safety, media ethics, evolving dynamics in social media, fact-checking and fake news, editorial policies, media bias, and the protection of news sources. Miski Yusuf Ali, director general of the…

MONUSCO Joint patrols between the U.N. Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) and Congolese security forces have resumed in Goma and its outskirts after being suspended in the wake of violent protests in mid-2022. The Armed Forces of the DRC (FARDC) and the Congolese National Police are leading the operations. The joint patrols have three purposes: to secure the city of Goma and its surroundings, to guarantee the free movement of civilians, and to ensure rapid intervention in the event of an attack.  Outside Goma, they also aim to keep armed groups away from main…

ADF STAFF Kenya was among seven African nations to receive an array of equipment from the Indian Ocean Commission (IOC) to help fishing inspectors battle illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing. Delivered in December 2022, the equipment includes floater suits, hand-held GPS devices, onboard and waterproof cameras, and laptop computers and tablets. Kenya’s marine resources are threatened due to an influx of foreign industrial trawlers. “The materials and equipment donated will help facilitate their exercise of reporting, to improve their security and to promote transparency in the performance of their mission,” Vêlayoudom Marimoutou, secretary-general of the Indian Ocean Commission, said…

U.S. AFRICA COMMAND PUBLIC AFFAIRS U.S. Special Operations Forces have conducted a civil affairs joint combined exchange training alongside the Tanzania Marine Special Forces in Dar es Salaam. The monthlong training let the U.S. and Tanzanian service members develop and maintain critical military-to-military connections and improve joint and allied readiness and interoperability. “This course is very crucial for our special forces because it enables us to be better prepared for various scenarios and upcoming duties,” said Lt. Col. Athumani Ghamunga of the Tanzania People’s Defence Force. “It is also the opportunity to share experience and knowledge between our special forces.”…

DEFENCEWEB France and South Africa, which share a maritime exclusive economic zone (EEZ) border, have completed the biennial Exercise Oxide. France and South Africa share one geographical area of interest, the southern Indian Ocean close to the EEZ of the French island Crozet and the South African islands of Prince Edward and Marion. The aim of the exercise is to enhance cooperation and interoperability between the two forces. This year’s iteration, which took place around the False Bay area and the West Coast of the Western Cape, ended on November 28, 2022. The exercise included various maritime exercises, with the…

ADF STAFF The Maravi kingdom, which took up parts of what are now Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia and eastern Zimbabwe, was a vibrant society of skilled administrators, ivory traders, healers, sages and metallurgists. It began with the tribes of the Banda, Mwali, Nkhoma and Phiri, and would eventually include other tribes.  The kingdom dates to the 13th century, with large-scale migrations of related clans settling in the Lake Malawi region, attracted by its natural abundance. The migrations continued for hundreds of years, peaking probably by the 16th century. Historians say the actual kingdom was established about 1480 and mostly was dissolved…