ADF

ADF STAFF With the launch of its Gaindesat-1A satellite in August, Senegal joined the growing list of African nations establishing a presence in space. Senegalese engineers and technicians designed Gaindesat-1A in collaboration with France’s University Space Centre of Montpellier. The project took five years. The launch was the first achievement for SenSAT, Senegal’s budding national space program. The satellite is a type known as a nanosatellite. It measures about 10 centimeters on a side and was built using commercially available components. Senegal’s government expects to use it to monitor weather and environmental conditions to benefit local farmers. “After five years…

ADF STAFF Gun battles in late October shattered the typical tranquility of Debark town, nestled in the foothills of the Semien mountains in Ethiopia’s Amhara region. Months of intense fighting in Ethiopia’s second-largest region have dislodged any sense of peace in the war-torn country, as the federal government struggles with what potentially could be another civil war. While the Pretoria Agreement was intended to end Ethiopia’s conflict in the Tigray region in November 2022, it left unresolved many issues such as decades-old territorial disputes between Amhara and Tigrayan people. “The peace deal two years ago was supposed to ensure that…

ADF STAFF Terrorists that plague northern Nigeria are arming themselves with weapons that originated in Libya, according to Nigerian defense officials. Weapons traffickers in Nigeria are benefitting from instability across the Sahel, particularly in Niger, which has become a key transit point for weapons taken from Libyan stockpiles. Those weapons have moved into other Sahel countries as well as Nigeria, according to the Small Arms Survey. “When we talk about the proliferation of arms, first, you have to look at what happened in Libya years ago and in the Sahel,” Nigerian Maj. Gen. Edward Buba said during a recent briefing.…

ADF STAFF Months of battlefield losses and hundreds of defections appeared to weaken Boko Haram, but it has not stopped the extremists from continuing to terrorize the Lake Chad Basin. Experts say that because the group has shown an alarming ability to reorganize and adapt its tactics, security forces must be just as flexible and resilient. Encompassing parts of Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria, the Lake Chad Basin has proved to be a troublesome theater with its many swamps and islands. All four countries contribute troops to the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) that recently concluded Operation Lake Sanity 2,…

ADF STAFF A new multinational security partnership is threatening to shift the balance of power in the Horn of Africa. Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki hosted Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud in the Eritrean capital of Asmara on October 10 and announced an alliance. In a joint statement, the three said they agreed to “enhance the Somali state institutions to confront various internal and external challenges and to enable the Somali National Federal Army to confront terrorism in all its forms.” In Ethiopia, the trilateral security agreement was met with an uneasy, defensive posture. “This…

ADF STAFF After more than 18 months, Sudan’s war appears to be descending into a nationwide ethnic conflict, according to a group of Sudanese peace advocates. “Both sides have dangerously escalated their war narratives, fueling ethnically charged rhetoric that mobilizes communities along ethnic and regional lines,” the Advocacy Group for Peace in Sudan (AGPS) said in a public statement. The group has warned of rising tribal loyalty and resentment in key regions of the country, especially in the Butana Plains and eastern Sudan as well as the Darfur and Kordofan regions, Nile River and Northern states. The Sudanese Armed Forces…

ADF STAFF Cybercrime is expected to cost continental governments a total of $10.5 trillion annually by 2025, an increase from $3 trillion in 2015, according to the African Union. The rise in cybercrime coincides with increased efforts by Russia and China to train new criminals on the continent to interfere in democratic elections, launch ransomware attacks and commit cyber-enabled financial fraud, according to a new report by Microsoft. Experts warn that this could lead to increased threats to African governments, economies and militaries. These newly trained hackers are known for “prepositioning backdoors for future destruction, sabotaging operations and conducting influence…

ADF STAFF As internet access spreads rapidly across the continent, cybersecurity remains an important challenge as Africa lacks online security professionals, digital literacy among the population and legislation to confront online crime. “Africa’s digital potential can’t be unleashed if the continent’s key cybersecurity challenges are not addressed,” Charmaine Houvet, senior director of government strategy and policy at Cisco Africa, wrote recently for Fast Company. With internet access across Africa projected to grow by more than 57% to 1.1 billion users by 2029, security threats will continue to increase, requiring nations to invest more in cybersecurity, experts say. “No African economy,…

ADF STAFF The Islamic State-Sahel Province (IS Sahel) is gaining territory amid a security situation that has worsened since military juntas took power in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger. The group is expanding its operations around the Sahel after the drawdown of Western troops from the region and as al-Qaida-affiliated Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) ceded vast pockets of territory near the border between Mali and Niger. The two groups have fought each another in the past. “There is a huge security vacuum after the withdrawal of the French and American military” from the region, Shaantanu Shankar, of the Economist…

ADF STAFF Rwanda’s first-ever Marburg virus outbreak was brought under control quickly and produced substantially fewer deaths than outbreaks elsewhere, in part thanks to the government’s rapid, well-organized response, according to observers. “We’re pleased to see that there have been no new cases in the past six days, and we hope that remains the case,” World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a news conference in Kigali on October 20. “But we are dealing with one of the world’s most dangerous viruses, and continued vigilance is essential.” When Rwanda’s Marburg outbreak began in late September, the government launched its…