ADF

ADF STAFF In recent months, a new beer began appearing in bars around Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic — a beer that analysts say carries implications for countries where Russia’s Wagner Group mercenaries operate. That’s because the beer, Africa Ti L’Or, is a product of a company owned by Dimitri Sytyi, Russia’s cultural attaché in the CAR and a high-level Wagner operative. Riders on motorized tricycles distributed the beer to stores and bars, forcing them to accept it, according to the CAR news site Corbeau News Centrafrique (CNC). Soon after, in early March, arsonists set fire to…

ADF STAFF The Tanzania Navy recently deployed a vessel in the Mozambique Channel to help the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and international partners address an array of sea crimes, including illegal fishing, drug smuggling, oil theft and human and weapons trafficking. While piracy has declined in the region, limited maritime security along the channel leaves important coastal cities in Mozambique and other countries, including Djibouti, Kenya, Tanzania, and island states such as Mauritius and the Seychelles, vulnerable to maritime threats. The channel, a 1,600-kilometer-long waterway between Madagascar and East Africa that carries about 30% of global tanker traffic, is a major…

ADF STAFF People walk freely between Ghana and Burkina Faso where the towns of Paga and Dakola are joined. Aside from the rickety metal barriers and gate that cut across the main road, there is little indication of where one country ends and the other begins. The border is open for business in more ways than one. With militant violence spreading south from Burkina Faso into the coastal states of the Gulf of Guinea, border towns are becoming a security focus. Awal Ahmed Kariama is executive director of Rural Initiatives for Self-Empowerment, a human rights nonprofit that operates along the…

ADF STAFF Porous borders and weak enforcement have turned certain regions into highways for international drug trafficking, which in turn fuels insurgencies and conflicts. West Africa in particular has become the transit hub for drugs moving between cartels in Latin America and users in Europe. As countries struggle to thwart drug traffickers, experts say they could benefit from a three-pronged approach: boosting law enforcement in border regions; sharing intelligence and resources to build a united front against the transnational criminal organizations; and engaging border communities as partners in their anti-trafficking work. “We need to think in a more innovative way…

ADF STAFF As Ethiopia begins the difficult task of fostering peace and reconciliation after a devastating civil war, observers are warning that neighboring Eritrea could upend the process. Some worry that Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki, whose sizable military remains amassed at the shared border, could launch or support an attack against his longtime foe, the Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front (TPLF). The TPLF led the coalition that governed Ethiopia for 30 years and fought a war with Eritrea from 1998 to 2000. “Eritrea’s president views this conflict as a zero-sum game. His aim is to finish off the TPLF once and…

ADF STAFF It is illegal for fishing vessels to discard unwanted fish in Ghanaian waters, but the practice continues, causing waste, environmental degradation and lost income for artisanal fishermen. According to a recent report by the Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF), captains typically discard juvenile, lower-value fish to make room for more valuable species. Usually targeted by artisanal fishermen, the pelagic fish often are dead when they are thrown overboard. Fish dumping has increased in Ghana since the country outlawed “saiko,” the illegal transshipment of fish at sea, in 2021. “[We are] dumping fish too much,” an anonymous crew member of…

ADF STAFF South Africa drew international criticism for its recent military exercises with China and Russia, but there was no shortage of critics at home who argued that the drills were too costly and used funds needed elsewhere. The optics of collaborating with Russia already were cause for condemnation on the one-year anniversary of its invasion of Ukraine. But the February joint military exercises reportedly cost about $11.8 million, a number that one politician used while noting that some members of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) had to pay their own bus fare to get to Richards Bay…

ADF STAFF The recent outbreak of coups in West Africa has cast a spotlight on some shortcomings in transitioning back to democracy. Since 2020, military juntas have swept to power in Mali (2021, 2022), Burkina Faso (twice in 2022) and Guinea. Four failed coup attempts also took place in West Africa in 2022. None of the three juntas in power plans to yield control of the government in 2023. Two researchers from the Institute for Security Studies (ISS), a South Africa-based think tank, are among the experts urging a new approach to managing West Africa’s military transitions back to democracy.…

ADF STAFF United States Coast Guard (USCG) Ensign Mohammad Diakite and members of the Togolese Navy rushed toward a man down on the deck of the USCG Cutter Spencer in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire. They were participating in a medical casualty response training exercise during Obangame Express 2023, the largest multinational maritime exercise in Western and Central Africa that included 17 West African partners. The two-week exercise was part of the USCG Spencer’s 88-day deployment to Africa that included port visits in Cabo Verde, The Gambia, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo. The vessel is a 270-foot medium endurance cutter that typically…

ADF STAFF Moustapha was running out of hope. The Nigerien man had a family to feed but little means to do so. Like scores of people around the continent, he was persuaded to join and fight for a violent extremist organization. “I joined because I felt frustrated with the conditions of everyday life, the life that I led,” Moustapha said in a 2023 United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) report. “I was so poor and vulnerable, with a family to take care of.” It is a common refrain among people who join terrorist groups in the Sahel region, which has emerged…