ADF

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE Côte d’Ivoire, which has lost nearly all its forests in the past half century, has launched a major project to triple its cover by 2030, the government announced in November 2022. The Forests Investment Project aims to cover 6.5 million hectares — about 20% of the country — said the World Bank, which is financing the $149 million project. The project also would help preserve 300,000 hectares of degraded forest land in the southwest, and forests in the northern Savanes zone, said Water and Forests Minister Laurent Tchagba. The seven-year project will benefit the country’s four national parks,…

Maj. Gen. Ibrahim of the Nigerian Army has a military career that spans more than 35 years. He holds a master’s degree in strategic studies from the University of Ibadan and has participated in international peace support operations in Liberia and Sudan. Domestically, he has led troops in operations in the Bakassi Peninsula, the Niger Delta and Kaduna. During his career he received honors including the Distinguished Service Star, Field Command Medal of Honour and Operation Lafiya Dole medal. In August 2021, he was named force commander of the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF), a five-nation regional effort mandated to…

ADF STAFF In the vast agricultural Middle Belt of central Nigeria, Emmanuel Ogbudu has witnessed the power of local interventions. Ogbudu, a monitoring and evaluation manager for the humanitarian group Mercy Corps, has spent more than 10 years as a peace practitioner. He likes to tell the story of a farmer in Bokkos, Plateau State, who called the police to arrest a herder whose cattle destroyed some of his crops. Begging the farmer to withdraw the case so they could resolve it at home, the pastoralist contacted his local leader who had been trained by Mercy Corps in negotiation techniques.…

ADF STAFF Amina Fofana is a member of one of Mali’s pro-junta protest groups and serves on the military government’s National Transitional Council, the nation’s legislative body. She’s prolific on social media. Her Facebook page shows about 5,000 friends and is home to a torrent of posts that appear several times a day. She also is a staunch supporter of Russian influence in Mali and spreads its deceptive propaganda and disinformation. On December 9, 2021, she posted a 3-minute, 27-second video that showed a white helicopter land in an open field as at least four young men waited. A voice…

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…