ADF

ADF STAFF As its battlefield losses mount in Ukraine, Russia is looking to Mali as a way to obtain weapons and circumvent international sanctions. Since its invasion of Ukraine, Russia has lost more than 2,000 tanks — about two-thirds of its inventory — and 1,800 infantry fighting vehicles. That is according to Oryx, a Dutch warfare research group, which reported that Russia has lost more than 5,000 pieces of equipment since the fighting began. Of those losses, almost 3,200 pieces of equipment were destroyed, and Ukraine captured another 1,400. “This list only includes destroyed vehicles and equipment of which photo…

ADF STAFF Few countries are controlled as tightly by one man as is Eritrea. Having recently marked 30 years of independence, Eritrea has never held a national election and has only ever known one head of state. Ranked as one of the most repressive countries in the world, it severely limits free speech, freedom of religion and demands decades of national service from its citizens. At its center is President Isaias Afwerki, 77, the former guerilla leader of the country’s struggle for independence. Critics say he has created a “pariah state.” “What North Korea means to the world … That’s…

ADF STAFF After more than a decade of heavy borrowing from China, the bill is coming due for some African countries that find themselves teetering on the brink of economic collapse. China ranks as the largest single lender to African countries, holding more than $73 billion in debt across the continent. In places such as Angola — China’s biggest African borrower — and Zambia, government borrowing from China has paid for high-priced infrastructure projects from stadiums to railroads. “In a lot of the world, the clock has hit midnight,” Harvard University economist Ken Rogoff told The Associated Press recently. “China…

ADF STAFF In 2021, Kenya launched a program to send 400 police officers each year to China for training, despite concerns that China’s authoritarian approach to policing conflicts with Kenyan laws protecting free speech and human rights. In recent years, China has signed policing agreements with 40 African countries to train thousands of law enforcement officers, presidential guards and other non-military security officials. Together they make up about 35% of foreign security forces receiving training by China’s Ministry of Public Security. The training has two goals: first, to introduce police officers to Chinese-style policing that emphasizes control of the population…

ADF STAFF In late 2022, Togolese gendarmes stormed a restaurant in a counterterrorism exercise that simulated a response to a terrorist attack. For Togo, this type of training has become all the more urgent as violence spreads from the Sahel toward coastal nations. Togo was mostly spared from extremist violence until last year, when attacks near the northern border began to increase. Togolese authorities have reported at least five attacks claimed by groups affiliated with al-Qaida or the Islamic State since January. The violence prompted the government to extend a six-month state of emergency in the northern Savanes region that shares…

ADF STAFF Less than two years after Guinea’s military seized power from then-President Alpha Condé, the junta is facing a wave of protests. Violence erupted in the capital of Conakry in May with anti-junta demonstrators throwing stones and burning makeshift barricades and tires. Police opened fire with tear gas and bullets. More protests were planned for May 17 after organizers reported that seven people were killed and 32 injured on May 10. But when people gathered to rally in the capital, they found Soldiers and armored vehicles waiting. Minister of Territorial Administration Mory Condé read a statement on national television,…

ADF STAFF As a journalist in Kenya, a doctoral student at the Communication University of China and a professor in South Africa, Dr. Bob Wekesa has decades of intimate experience with China’s media and information landscape. A leading media scholar on China and Africa, Wekesa warns that China increasingly is exporting what he calls its model of “total state control of information.” Some authoritarian leaders are finding it to be an enticing sales pitch. “In China, information is just an asset, a resource,” Wekesa said in a May 12 interview with the Africa Center for Strategic Studies. “It’s capital just…

ADF STAFF Sudanese military officials reported on May 26 that they had intercepted a cache of weapons as they were being smuggled from an unspecified foreign country through the Red Sea region to rebels in the eastern part of the country. The claim was the latest episode of weapons being brought into Sudan to fuel the ongoing battle between the country’s de facto leader, Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his former deputy known as Hemedti. The two men have been fighting for control of Sudan since April 15. Both al-Burhan, leader of the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF), and Hemedti, head…

ADF STAFF Crime organizations and terrorist groups have woven a complex trafficking network moving illicit goods such as assault-style rifles, ammunition, explosives and fake medicine throughout the Sahel region. Once used for legitimate trade, the routes cross porous borders in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, The Gambia, Guinea, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria and Senegal. “Organized crime is feeding on the vulnerabilities and also undermining stability and development in the Sahel,” François Patuel, head of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Research and Awareness Unit, said in a new report. “Combining efforts and taking a regional approach will lead…

ADF STAFF When the head of Sudan’s Transitional Sovereignty Council removed his deputy, it was not a surprise. The two men are at war with each other in a conflict that is quickly tearing the country apart. Lt. Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan announced on May 19 that he was officially firing Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, also known as Hemedti, as the head of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The two generals had an uncomfortable power-sharing agreement after the 2021 coup that ended a transitional government led by civilians and members of the military. The two generals have one thing in common:…