ADF

ADF STAFF Bodies lie scattered across El Geneina, the capital of West Darfur in Sudan. According to reports from the Darfur Bar Association, the dead lie in their homes, in public buildings and in the streets — where the bodies are sometimes piled into makeshift barricades. All are victims of rampaging fighters from the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). West Darfur Gov. Khamees Abakar was captured and executed. RSF Gen. Abdelrahman Juma, one of those who kidnapped Abakar, is now in control of the region. The region’s Masalit ethnic group recently reported that the carnage in West Darfur has left 5,000…

ADF STAFF Multinational collaboration was on full display at the 2023 African Lion joint military training exercise from May 31 to June 14, 2023. A joint chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) explosive ordnance disposal training event in Tamale, Ghana, exemplified the spirit of African Lion, underscoring the principle of “Stronger Together.” Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) personnel learned to respond in a CBRN environment and shared firefighting techniques with their U.S. military counterparts. GAF Sgt. Richard Darkwa, an explosive ordnance disposal technician, praised the exchange of knowledge. “The coordination has been very good because they are free for us to…

ADF STAFF Fatima Abdallah is among more than 100,000 Sudanese who have fled to Chad since fighting broke out on April 15. “We will not go back,” she told Al-Jazeera. “We will stay in Chad because here there is a government.” Chad closed its 1,400-kilometer border with Sudan soon after fighting erupted between Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, head of the Sudanese Armed Forces, and his rival, known as Hemedti, who leads the Rapid Support Forces. A continuous flow of people escaping Sudan is overwhelming hospitals and international aid systems in border communities such as Adré. The current wave of displaced…

ADF STAFF About 100 armed men on motorcycles killed 18 civilians in Kaobagou, Benin, near the tri-border area with Togo and Burkina Faso in early May. Survivors said that 15 victims had their throats slit, a homemade bomb was attached to one of the bodies and 12 villagers were missing. All the victims were young men. It was the 10th incident involving violent extremist groups or sparked by inter-community tensions in Kaobagou since February 3, the Netherlands Institute for International Relations Clingendael reported. Kaobagou is an administrative division under the jurisdiction of the commune of Kérou. “Did we really need…

ADF STAFF Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) Gen. Francis Ogolla took command of the country’s military in early May when Gen. Robert Kibochi retired after 44 years of military service, the final three of which he spent as KDF’s leader. During the change of command ceremony, Kibochi was praised for strengthening the Kenyan military’s personnel welfare and logistics support. His philosophy centered on an unwavering commitment to “sharpening the arrowhead” for mission readiness. “Sharpening the arrowhead is a continuous process and entails first-class training of all personnel and a soldier-centric welfare approach for mission readiness,” Kibochi said in a statement. “The…

ADF STAFF On a recent oversight visit to South Africa’s Eastern Cape province, the Joint Standing Committee on Defence (JSCD) saw an ill-equipped defense force. JSCD member Kobus Marais told National Assembly parliamentarians on May 25 that the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) is in “intensive care.” Only two of 11 Rooivalk combat support helicopters were airworthy, he said. Only one of the four Super Lynx specialist helicopters was available. Just one of six C-130BZ Hercules medium transport aircraft could be used. “We cannot provide logistic support to our Soldiers in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Mozambique with…

ADF STAFF Samuel Otoo and Alfred Ofore Kae launched their artisanal fishing canoe into the waters off Jamestown, Ghana, before dawn. About a dozen fellow fishermen helped them drag their canoe back onto shore when they returned in midafternoon. That alone is arduous work, and the men dripped with sweat as they sang West African work songs. Otoo and Kae regarded their catch — a box of sea bream and a small bucket of sardinella — with frequently felt disappointment. “Twenty years ago, we could catch four or five times as much,” Kae, 42, told the newspaper The Telegraph. Fish…

ADF STAFF When a terrorist group launches an attack these days, it is likely that one or more airborne drones are recording the action for use later in social media. Across Africa, violent extremist organizations (VEOs) are quickly adopting digital technologies designed to expand their arsenals beyond bullets and bombs to include cyberattacks against key infrastructure and propaganda to recruit new members. The rapid evolution of artificial intelligence could further help VEOs exploit those technologies in a way that makes it difficult for governments and security agencies to keep up, according to Geoffrey Jackson, a professor of military history and…

ADF STAFF Decades of warfare, corruption and ethnic conflict have left West Africa awash in small arms that continue to fuel instability and extremism across the region. Although numbers are difficult to pin down, some experts estimate that as many as 8 million small arms and light weapons (SALW) circulate across the region despite a 2006 convention on the international trade in small weapons by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). Some of those weapons originate in national military stockpiles and are either stolen, captured or retained after Soldiers leave service. A small number are manufactured within the…

ADF STAFF As Sudan’s capital city continues to be rocked by explosions and gunfire, its residents are being victimized by another attack: relentless disinformation and propaganda campaigns. Between them, Sudan’s two warring generals –– Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, have more than 2.3 million Twitter followers — 1.4 million for al-Burhan and the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF), and 900,000 for Hemedti and his Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia. According to analysts, the RSF has also hijacked 900 dormant Twitter accounts to spread messages presenting itself in a positive light. “Both warring sides have…