ADF

After two decades during which coups d’état were relatively rare, they are making an unwelcome return. In 2021, there were six coups or attempted coups documented on the continent. The next year saw two coups in Burkina Faso and several others attempted. Citizens fear a return to an era in which power was taken at the point of a gun instead of earned at the ballot box.  Each coup has its own story, but certain patterns have emerged. Insecurity causes fear and anger to spread among the public. Democratic institutions fail or an autocratic leader clings to power. Discipline and…

Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo is president of Ghana and chairman of the Economic Community of West African States Authority of Heads of State and Government. He spoke in Accra, Ghana, on March 15, 2022, at an event organized by the African Union Department of Political Affairs, Peace and Security. His remarks have been edited for space and clarity. Our unity and resolve should send a clear message to coup plotters that coups have never been, and will never be, durable solutions to Africa’s political, economic and security challenges. Statements condemning coups alone without corresponding action will, however, achieve little or…

ADF STAFF The fight against Boko Haram and other extremist groups has taken a mental toll on members of Nigeria’s military. The prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other mental issues is so high among the nation’s armed forces that the Defence and Police Officers’ Wives Association (DEPOWA) is establishing a PTSD diagnostic, treatment and research center to serve military personnel in Abuja. The first phase of the project was expected to be commissioned by April 2023, according to a report by Channel Network Afrique. A survey of military wives across the country showed that many troops experience nightmares,…

ADF STAFF Burkina Faso has opened its first pharmaceutical manufacturing plant to make low-cost generic drugs and ensure the uninterrupted availability of common medicines. The $23 million plant was built through a private initiative by Burkinabe pharmacists. Dr. Palingwindé Armel Coéfé, director-general of Propharm, the company behind the project, led the effort, according to a report in HealthCare Africa magazine. The plant will start producing the pain reliever paracetamol, the antispasmodic phloroglucinol, and oral rehydration salts and zinc to treat diarrhea, Coéfé said.  The plant was built on a 1.5-hectare site in Komsilga on the outskirts of the capital, Ouagadougou.…

VOICE OF AMERICA Five Southern African countries, which have more than half the continent’s elephants, conducted the first aerial census to determine the elephant population and how to protect it. Light aircraft flew simultaneously across the plains of Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe in a conservation region known as the Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area (KAZA).  KAZA is home to an estimated 220,000 elephants. The five countries want to know exact numbers and distribution patterns. Although elephant populations are increasing in the KAZA region, elsewhere on the continent numbers are decreasing due to loss of habitat and poaching. More than…

ADF STAFF Coup attempts were frequent in Africa in the post-independence and Cold War periods.  By comparison, the past 20 or so years have been quiet. From 2011 through 2020, the continent averaged fewer than one completed coup per year. But since then, the relative stability has given way to what looks like a sharp reemergence of coup attempts. From January 1, 2020, through December 2022, there were a dozen coup attempts on the continent. Of those, six resulted in an unconstitutional change in government at the hands of military officers. The trend has caused concern among continental and regional…

ADF STAFF Senior leaders from land forces across Africa gathered in Côte d’Ivoire in May for the 2023 African Land Forces Summit (ALFS). It was an opportunity to discuss the shared threats they face and the need for cooperation as extremist groups seek to push from the Sahel toward the coast of West Africa. “The land forces need to come together and work together,” said Maj. Gen. Christopher Musa, Infantry Corps commander of the Nigerian Army. “Asymmetric warfare requires the services of everybody––a whole domain approach, all-regional approach. That’s why it’s important for us to meet, look at all the…

ADF STAFF Addressing violent extremism requires militaries to share what they know and coordinate action with their allies. That was one of the takeaways from the 2023 Directors of Military Intelligence Conference in Luanda, Angola, in late April. The event was hosted by the Angola Military Intelligence and Security Service and U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM). The conference offered a platform for military intelligence leaders to develop solutions to challenges shared by African nations, where extremist groups such as al-Shabaab, Ansaroul Islam, Boko Haram, the Islamic State and Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimeen are trying to expand their reach. “Alone we…

ADF STAFF While Sudan’s rival generals fight to become the country’s chief military power, Russia and its proxy, the Wagner Group, have courted both sides of the conflict to remain in the good graces of whoever comes out on top. The power struggle is rooted in Sudan’s domestic politics, notes analyst Catrina Doxsee with the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “Even so,” Doxsee wrote recently, “it creates opportunities for foreign actors — including Russia, through Wagner — to intervene to shape a political future conducive to their own interests.” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov demonstrated Russia’s plan to straddle…

ADF STAFF The Southern African Development Community (SADC) agreed in early May to send troops to eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to help restore peace. There they will work alongside troops already deployed from the East African Community Regional Force (EACRF) It was unclear how many SADC troops will be deployed to the restive region and how long they will be there. Troops from three SADC countries — Malawi, South Africa and Tanzania — have operated in eastern DRC for a decade under the United Nations peacekeeping force MONUSCO. The SADC approved the deployment during a summit in…