ADF

ADF STAFF Now that Burkina Faso’s junta has forced French troops to leave the country, analysts say Russia’s Wagner Group mercenaries could fill the void. Mamadou Drabo, executive secretary for junta-aligned civic group Save Burkina, told The Associated Press (AP) that the country’s leaders have invited Russian instructors to train its soldiers. “We asked the Russian government because of the bilateral collaboration between Burkina and Russia, that they send us people to train our men,” Drabo told the AP. Other African countries that made similar requests have found themselves working closely with mercenaries from the Wagner Group — an agreement…

ADF STAFF On April 17, two days after fighting broke out between two rival Sudanese generals, a Russian Ilyushin 76 cargo plane based at Libya’s al-Jufra air base was bound for Sudan. The plane flew over the northwest corner of the country and air-dropped surface-to-air missiles and other weapons near the Chevrolet Garrison, a base of operations for the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) near the community of Karab Toum. The flight provided the RSF, controlled by Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, also known as Hemedti, with crucial supplies for its battle against Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the Sudan Armed Forces.…

ADF STAFF More than 5,000 kilometers separate the battlefields of Ukraine from the gold mines of the Central African Republic (CAR), but the two countries have become linked through Russia’s Wagner Group. Since arriving in the CAR in 2018, Wagner has spread to become involved in multiple aspects of the country’s economy and security sector. In the process, the Wagner Group has helped Russia circumvent international sanctions imposed after the 2022 invasion of Ukraine by laundering gold and diamonds from the CAR to finance Russia’s war effort. “From the start, Russia intended to exchange Wagner’s paramilitary services in the CAR…

ADF STAFF With the East African Community Regional Force (EACRF) fully deployed and M23 rebels gradually withdrawing from occupied territory, there is some reason for hope in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. Still, experts warn of a larger security threat to the region based on a tragic history. Still scarred from the First and Second Congo Wars from 1996-2003, the DRC was ground zero for what some called “Africa’s world war.” As many as 6 million people died, either from fighting or from disease and malnutrition. The notion of the “Balkanization” of eastern DRC appeared in the late…

ADF STAFF Terrorist groups in the Lake Chad Basin are embracing a mix of off-the-shelf technology, from satellite modems and social media accounts to laptop computers and drones, to augment their recruitment and activities across the region. The groups are adopting technology to supplement manpower and drive messaging as they feel the pinch from recent successful counterterrorism operations, such as the one conducted in mid-February by Nigerian security forces that killed 133 fighters from Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP). Operations against ISWAP and other Boko Haram factions have inflicted heavy losses and limited terror groups’ safe havens. Arrests of…

ADF STAFF A recent militant attack in central Mali illustrated the extreme challenges facing the United Nations peacekeeping mission, known as MINUSMA, and its uncertain future in the violence plagued country. Three suicide car bombs and heavy gunfire shattered the early morning silence in the town of Sévaré in the Mopti region on April 22. Extremist militants targeted a refugee camp, the town’s strategically important airport and the adjacent Malian military camp that reportedly housed Russian Wagner Group mercenaries. A contingent of MINUSMA peacekeepers from Senegal responded and drove back the attackers. The next day, two civilian members of the…

ADF STAFF People across Senegal have enjoyed thieboudienne, the national dish, since at least the 19th century. Made with stuffed fish, rice, vegetables and a variety of West African spices, the savory dish’s recipe has traveled across Sub-Saharan Africa. In Senegal, the preferred fish used in thieboudienne is white grouper. But overfishing led by China’s distant-water fishing (DWF) fleet has caused the population of the species to collapse. Senegalese nutritionist Codou Kébé said grouper’s collapse has led to the loss of a key protein for the nation’s residents. There aren’t many other species left to take grouper’s place, as 90%…

ADF STAFF Rub two objects together long enough, and you’ll eventually produce enough heat to start a fire. Such is the case with the violence that erupted on April 15 after years of political and personal friction between Sudan’s rival military leaders. The battles that began in Khartoum quickly spread to other sites across the country. The violence grew from years of conflict between the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF), loyal to Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the paramilitary branch led by Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, also known as Hemedti. Analysts fear the battle between the…

ADF STAFF A terror group’s campaign is more likely to escalate into a civil war when the state it operates in uses repressive tactics and when the group diversifies its attack strategies. Although about 70% of terror groups end their campaigns within a year of the first attack, some continue fighting for decades. A new report by researchers at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, American University and DeSales University described why some insurgencies spark wider conflict. The report was published in the journal “Dynamics of Asymmetrical Conflict.” “Violent repression helps terrorist groups convince moderate members to wage a rebellion,” the researchers wrote…

ADF STAFF Experts say an Islamic State group affiliate’s recent actions in northeast Mali signal that the group has entered a new phase and believes it is unchallenged by the military-led government. The extremists seized the northeast Malian town of Tidermene on April 10 without a fight. They gathered residents, distributed leaflets and told them to prepare to pay zakat, an Islamic tax. “Now they are trying to govern,” France 24 terrorism expert Wassim Nasr said during an April 13 broadcast. “They are the same leaflets that were distributed in Syria back in 2014, meaning that we are in a…