ADF

CLUES Ibadi Muslims established a community in this region in the 10th century. Five fortified villages, or ksour, constitute walled citadels that contain a mosque surrounded by houses built in concentric circles. Mosques here were conceived as fortresses. They served as watchtowers and included arsenals and grain storage. The settlements have influenced Arab architecture and planning for nearly 1,000 years. ANSWER  M’Zab Valley, Algeria

ADF STAFF The increasing violence between Sudan’s warring generals has prompted some experts to call for the African Union (AU) to step in with a “boots-on-the-ground” approach through its African Standby Force. “Considering the escalating destruction of the conflict, the need is urgent to end hostilities, establish a humanitarian corridor and protect civilians and infrastructure,” analyst Maram Mahdi recently wrote for the Institute for Security Studies. “To achieve anything, such an approach must be tougher than current efforts.” The African Standby Force (ASF) has a combined 25,000 troops contributed by AU members spread across the continent’s five economic regions. Since…

ADF STAFF The sounds of airstrikes, artillery and small-arms fire reverberate through the streets of Khartoum and Omdurman on opposite sides of the Nile as war persists in Sudan with no end in sight. The Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), led by Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, has air supremacy. But the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and its leader, known as Hemedti, have an estimated 100,000 fighters experienced in urban warfare. “We’re terrified; every day the strikes are getting worse,” Nahid Salah, a north Omdurman resident, told Reuters. Initially focused on the capital, Khartoum, the fighting has spread through four of the…

ADF STAFF Piracy is drastically declining in the Gulf of Guinea, but experts say more can be done to eliminate the threat. The number of piracy incidents in the region fell from 81 in 2020 to 34 in 2021, when the Gulf of Guinea also accounted for all kidnappings at sea worldwide. In 2022, there were only three attacks recorded in the Gulf. There were five incidents of piracy and armed attacks reported in the region in the first quarter of 2023, according to the United Nations Security Council. Despite the declining threat, “piracy incidents continued to threaten the safety of…

ADF STAFF Joyous singing and dancing punctuated a June 23 ceremony in Maputo to celebrate the end of a dark era in Mozambique’s history. Dancers symbolically exchanged wooden props, replacing assault rifles with shovels and hoes. Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi and Ossufo Momade, leader of the Mozambican National Resistance (RENAMO), radiated pride during a gathering that recognized the rebel group’s transition to a political party. “With this process, the country has won credibility as an example of how to lead peace processes,” Nyusi said. In another ceremony eight days before, the two men smiled broadly and embraced in Vanduzi at…

ADF STAFF Cyberattacks cost African governments, companies and citizens an estimated $2.5 billion in 2020. That figure is likely to grow to $3.7 billion in the next few years partly due to a lack of coordinated, continentwide investment in cybersecurity. Internet access is growing rapidly across Africa. Although internet penetration is 28% continentwide, it is more than 50% in Nigeria and more than 85% in Kenya, which are two of the continent’s top targets for cyberattacks. South Africa, where nearly 72% of the population is online, spends a larger share of its economy on cybersecurity than any other African country,…

ADF STAFF Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for an attack that killed six civilians and three Soldiers at the Pearl Beach Hotel restaurant in Mogadishu, Somalia, in early June. The attack, which started with a bomb blast and ended in gunfire, also wounded 20. Al-Shabaab terrorists killed five civilians, including a secondary school student, in southeast Kenya in late June. The attackers also torched houses and destroyed other property. “Women were locked in the houses and the men ordered out, where they were tied with ropes and butchered,” witness Hassan Abdul told Al-Jazeera. “All those killed were slashed and some of them…

ADF STAFF As the dust settles after the 36-hour rebellion by Yevgeny Prigozhin’s Wagner Group against Vladimir Putin, some observers see parallels to fighting in Sudan. Like Wagner, the Sudanese Rapid Support Forces (RSF) is a powerful paramilitary group that was funded and heavily armed by its government. Wagner and the RSF have each been accused of numerous human rights abuses. Both groups refused to integrate with their country’s military. Each instead chose to turn against their governments. Bakary Sembe, regional director at the Timbuktu Institute Africa Centre for Peace Studies, expects that African leaders will be more wary of…

ADF STAFF The Somali government recruited 20,000 Soldiers over the past year to handle security challenges, mainly posed by al-Shabaab, as the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS) draws down. ATMIS was scheduled to withdraw 2,000 troops from the nation by June 30, the first of three drawdowns in its transition plan. The AU has committed to withdraw the 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. Thousands of Somali recruits were sent to Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia and Uganda…

ADF STAFF New reporting shows how the Islamic State group has funded the Allied Democratic Forces for at least four years, leading to an escalating scale of brutality. The report by a United Nations panel of experts outlines the latest evolution of the relationship between one of the deadliest terrorist groups in central Africa and the Islamic State group, which seeks to expand its footprint on the continent after losing ground in the Middle East. The Allied Democratic Forces, which are based in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), is accused of attacking a dormitory in western Uganda in…