ADF

ADF STAFF Alima never again expects to live in her Burkina Faso home. Standing near a refugee settlement in Ghana, she can see her native hamlet over a dry riverbed. Alima said she left with her children last year after gunmen raided their settlement and killed two watchmen. “We are staying here for now,” Alima told Agence France-Presse (AFP). “There is no security over there.” Since January, terrorists in Burkina Faso have attacked civilians and pro-government militias in the Boulgou Province, forcing thousands of people to flee to Ghana, where many settlement camps lack sufficient food, water and shelter. In…

ADF STAFF In mid-2020, the Central African Republic’s Constitutional Court denied President Faustin-Archange Touadéra’s request to delay the 2020 elections because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Almost immediately afterward, claims began circulating online that the court had been bribed to act against the president. The accusations came from an anonymous operator on WhatsApp known as “Eye on CAR” that is part of a network of commentators working under the umbrella group “One Africa One Success” that is made up of dozens of Russian-educated Africans who post pro-Russian messages online. Like “Eye on CAR,” most have Russian telephone numbers, according to research…

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…