ADF

In one week in May, the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) went from being the most active wing of the global Islamic State group, claiming more attacks than any other affiliate, to an organization in crisis. After months of intelligence gathering, the joint forces of Nigeria and the United States conducted a nighttime raid on May 16 that killed Abu-Bilal al-Minuki, one of the group’s most senior leaders, in a hidden compound near the town of Metele in the Lake Chad Basin. The highly coordinated assault also eliminated some of the group’s other top leaders and destroyed critical logistical…

Mali’s Kayes-Bamako corridor from Senegal plays a central role in Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin’s ongoing blockade of truck traffic into Mali, which has economic implications for the entirety of West Africa, particularly those countries bordering Mali. Since September 2025, terrorists have burned hundreds of trucks entering the country from Senegal as well as Côte d’Ivoire and Guinea. Experts describe the blockade as economic warfare designed to disrupt life in the capital and undermine faith in the junta that has ruled the country since overthrowing the democratically elected government in 2021. So far, the blockade has sharply reduced the amount of…

Russia has waged war on Ukraine for more than four years with no end in sight. But experts say that when the fighting does end, arms and soldiers who have expertise in drone warfare could flood into conflict zones around the world. Researchers Will Brown and Lena Krause of the European Council on Foreign Relations warn that a huge stockpile of weapons and battle-tested military contractors will hit global markets and are likely to end up on the African continent. “If history is anything to judge by, African countries will absorb a sizeable amount of this surplus, significantly increasing the…

The Nigerian Senate on June 24 passed a bill that will decentralize state police forces if approved by at least 24 of the country’s 36 Houses of Assembly. The proposed constitutional amendment reportedly enjoys broad support amid evolving security challenges that test the capacity of the country’s security forces, particularly in rural areas. The amendment would replace Nigeria’s central policing structure with a dual system involving a federal police service and independently administered state police services. Senate Leader Opeyemi Bamidele said the vote came after years of consultations, public hearings and stakeholder engagements across the country. “The state police bill…

Sexual violence committed by combatants in Sudan’s civil war is increasing as the fighting spreads and intensifies. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) recently reported that 546 such incidents involving at least 838 victims have been documented since the war began in April 2023; all but 15 of the victims were women and girls. More than 25% of the incidents involved gang rape, including an instance in which one victim was raped by at least 10 attackers. “Women and girls are being raped and killed in their homes, and as they flee, seek food, water…

Islamist militants fighting for factions affiliated with al-Qaida and the Islamic State group (IS) are expanding across national borders in several regions and launching sophisticated attacks on state forces and civilians. According to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data (ACLED) project, violent IS activity in Africa increased to 86% of the group’s global attacks in the first quarter of 2026, up from yearly totals of 49% in 2024 and 79% in 2025. The continental areas with the highest number of deaths related to Islamist violence in 2025 were the Sahel and coastal West Africa, Somalia, the Lake Chad Basin,…

Nathan Nwachuku’s vision of Pax Africana is front and center on his company’s website: “Bringing lasting peace to the continent through African security sovereignty, a future in which Africa builds, deploys and controls its own defense technology.” The 23-year-old Nigerian is CEO of Abuja-based startup Terra Industries, which signed a joint venture agreement in February with Nigeria’s state-run military-industrial ⁠corporation Defence Industries Corp. of Nigeria (DICON) to research and develop drones, robotics and cybersecurity systems. After years of buying drones from China, Pakistan and Türkiye, Nigeria’s military has turned its attention inward, exemplifying a trend across the continent of governments…

China is exporting surveillance technology to African countries that experts say is designed to monitor and control populations with little or no oversight or concern for privacy, personal security and human rights. The Institute of Development Studies (IDS) looked at 11 African countries that have deployed thousands of Chinese cameras in public spaces and concluded that the technology poses significant risks to freedom and facilitates digital authoritarianism. Tony Roberts, a digital research fellow at the institute, and Wairagala Wakabi, executive director of the Collaboration on International ICT Policy for East and Southern Africa in Uganda, led the team that published…

When two armed groups launched coordinated attacks across Mali on April 25, including a stunning assault on the capital, Bamako, Saheed Babajide Owonikoko thought of Nigeria. A researcher with the Centre for Peace and Security Studies at Modibbo Adama University in eastern Nigeria’s Adamawa State, Owonikoko said Mali and Nigeria have much in common: multiple extremist insurgent groups, porous borders and minimal government presence in rural areas that renders both countries vulnerable to attacks. “As a scholar who has followed the unfolding events in the Sahel, I draw lessons for Nigeria from the April attacks in Mali,” he wrote in…

The Nigerian Navy commissioned three new warships on June 1 during its 70th Anniversary International Fleet Review and pledged to build a more technology-driven force to include advanced surveillance systems, drones, and artificial intelligence in its intelligence and rapid-response operations. AI can improve a navy’s decision-making processes, such as predicting the most fuel-efficient way to operate a vessel. It can be included in a ship’s navigation system, radar operations or threat-detection systems to help operators process information faster. Aerial and surface drones can vastly improve a military’s surveillance capacity. “As we look toward the next decade, under the leadership of…