ADF

ADF STAFF Benin’s W National Park sits on the country’s northern border, which has become the frontline in the battle to contain Sahel-based violent extremist organizations. With the W Park as a convenient entry point, that frontline is moving south. The 8,000 square kilometer park has become a haven and hideout for militants, prompting Benin to reassess its approach to security. “They’ve turned the park into some kind of headquarters, or at least it’s an operations base,” Crisis Group analyst Ibrahim Yahaya Ibrahim told radio news network RFI. “They take advantage of the fact that the park is difficult to…

ADF STAFF Decades of simmering ethnic tensions in the northern Ghanaian town of Bawku recently boiled over into armed violence. Security forces have been deployed, and the conflict has captured the attention of the country and raised fears of terrorist groups expanding into the region. Experts say the conflict in Bawku poses a serious threat to Ghana’s security, as violent extremist organizations often exploit local unrest. On March 27, Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo was asked whether al-Qaida is already in Ghana. “I don’t know. Formally, we don’t have any information to that effect,” he said at a news conference. “It…

ADF STAFF Somalia’s Deputy Minister of Information, Abdirahman Yusuf Al-adala, recently gave a startling update on the country’s war against the powerful and deeply embedded al-Qaida-linked extremist insurgency it has fought since 2006. “The extortion that al-Shabaab used to collect from Somali citizens from the ports and airports has been terminated,” he said at a news conference in the capital, Mogadishu, on March 30. “Fifteen vehicles used by al-Shabaab to collect funds were seized, and 20 leaders who were in charge of collecting funds were killed.” Somalia launched a sustained military offensive against al-Shabaab in July 2022 and has made…

ADF STAFF The United States government in late March offered $100 million to help Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea and Togo battle the spread of terrorism over the next 10 years. U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris made the announcement while visiting Ghana. The pledge was appreciated by Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo, who called terrorism a “poison.” “We’re spending a lot of sleepless nights trying to make sure we’re protected here,” Akufo-Addo said in an Associated Press report. Akufo-Addo added that fighting has increased in northern Ghana, near the Burkina Faso border, and raised concerns that Russian Wagner Group mercenaries could…

ADF STAFF As Africa’s online community continues to grow, hackers and other malicious actors are waiting to invade those expanding networks to steal valuable data. A recent study by IBM’s Security X-Force cyberthreat analysts showed that so-called “backdoor” attacks were among the most popular way for hackers to gain access to computer systems across Africa. Like an army invading a castle by sneaking through its sewer pipe, the attacks give hackers a way around a computer system’s firewalls and other safeguards. Those backdoor attacks can set the stage for the theft of personal data or the release of ransomware, which…

ADF STAFF Russia’s grueling war with Ukraine has not stopped it from selling weapons in Africa and across the globe. In fact, Russia overtook China as the top weapons supplier to Sub-Saharan Africa between 2018 and 2022, according to a new report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). Russia grabbed 26% of the region’s market share, up from 21% over the previous five years, the report showed. China’s market share in the region fell from 29% to 18% between 2013 to 2022. The leading importers of Russian weapons on the continent are Algeria, Angola, Egypt and Sudan. Russian…

ADF STAFF In a series of crudely produced propaganda cartoons circulated on the internet and through West African social media, France is portrayed as a predatory giant rat, a hoard of zombies and a gigantic cobra. All of these menaces are attacking righteous African Soldiers, with powerful Wagner Group Russian mercenaries coming to the Africans’ rescue. At the end of one cartoon, a character says, “I hear that Ivory Coast also needs help.” Another cartoon begins with an evil Frenchman declaring, “Ivory Coast belongs to France!” Russia makes no secret of its desire to expand its military influence into new…

ADF STAFF As it nears completion, the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam continues to fuel tense relations between Ethiopia and Egypt, tensions that go beyond energy or irrigation to the heart of each country’s self-identity, according to analysts. Ethiopia recently announced that the $4.2 billion dam, also known as the GERD, is 90% complete. Ethiopia finished the third filling of the dam and began generating power in August 2022. The dam, which is the largest in Africa, straddles the Blue Nile about 45 kilometers from Ethiopia’s border with Sudan. Ethiopia sees the hydropower project as a vital part of the campaign…

ADF STAFF Although terrorism is a global problem, it is “particularly critical” in many parts of Africa, Mozambican President Filipe Jacinto Nyusi told the United Nations Security Council in late March. During a meeting on counterterrorism, Nyusi shared the findings of the 2022 Global Terrorism Index, which showed that Sub-Saharan Africa accounted for 48% of global terrorism deaths in 2021. Terrorist networks are surviving and growing in many areas, particularly in the Sahel region, Lake Chad Basin, Great Lakes region and Southern Africa. “On the context of the African continent, they have generally resorted to trafficking of mineral resources with…

ADF STAFF In 2022, Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud ordered a major offensive against the al-Shabaab terror group. With the help of African Union forces, those military operations have yielded results. According to a March 2023 report from Somalia’s Defense Ministry, military operations have liberated about 70 towns and villages with more than 3,000 militants killed and 3,700 injured. But analysts are warning that the loss of terrain in Somalia may push al-Shabaab to launch new attacks in neighboring Kenya. Al-Shabaab attacks in Kenya have risen steadily over the past five years, including a 26% rise in 2022, according to…