ADF

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…

ADF STAFF In its ongoing attempt to expand across the Sahel, Russia’s Wagner Group may choose Chad as its next target. Unlike other Sahelian countries, which have invited Wagner mercenaries, Chad could be Wagner’s first attempt at overthrowing a sitting government, according to analysts. Wagner already has footholds in the Central African Republic, Libya and Sudan. Chadian rebel groups overlap with Wagner forces in the CAR and in Libya, where the rebels joined eastern Gen. Khalifa Haftar’s attempt — aided by Wagner — to take full control of the divided country. A senior official from an African country told The…

U.S. Africa Command Staff A cross the globe, militaries are transforming. They’re updating tactics and strategies to respond to asymmetric threats. They’re opening new professional military education institutions to meet the demands of young enlistees hungry to learn and older officers eager to stay sharp. The highest-performing militaries are stamping out old practices connected to corruption and bias. These efforts are linked to the core values of service, integrity, political neutrality and a respect for constitutional order. The process of living up to these values can be called “security sector transformation” or “professionalism,” but it all amounts to moving forward.  Yet…

Moussa Faki Mahamat, chairperson of the African Union Commission, spoke at the 16th Extraordinary Session of the Assembly of the African Union on Terrorism and Unconstitutional Changes of Government in Africa in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, on May 28, 2022. His remarks have been edited for space and clarity. We have all recently witnessed, with dismay and concern, the resurgence of military coups d’etat in some of our member states. We are thus witnessing the resurgence of a practice that we believed to be gone forever, with the advent of a new era, the promising one of democratic consolidation. Among the causes…

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE In Côte d’Ivoire, a new “Superphone” that uses a voice assistant to respond to commands in a local language is opening up opportunities to reach a broader range of consumers. Developed and assembled locally, the phone is designed to make everyday tasks more accessible, from understanding a document and checking a bank balance to communicating with government agencies. “I’ve just bought this phone for my parents back home in the village, who don’t know how to read or write,” said Floride Jogbe, a young woman impressed by ads on social media. She believed the 60,000 CFA francs (U.S.…

ADF STAFF Senegalese artist Fally Sene Sow took inspiration from the depressing days of the COVID-19 pandemic to build a vision of what his neighborhood might someday resemble in Dakar. He built an array of model buildings in a room, each in varying stages of dilapidation, surrounded by skeletons and grotesque animals covering 30 square meters. Sow, 34, is among the artists and groups chosen for the 14th Dakar Biennale, one of Africa’s oldest art celebrations. The event hadn’t been held since 2020 because of the pandemic.  “I live at the heart of the market and so I have this…

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE Hanganani Gideon Dube, 75, has walked with a slight limp and his speech has been labored since he miraculously survived being trampled by an elephant in northwestern Zimbabwe. He considers himself lucky to be alive after the incident in May 2021 near Mabale village on the outskirts of Hwange National Park. The injuries have left him unable to provide for his family of six. Dube was tending his cattle when “suddenly I found myself face to face with an elephant.” He sprinted off, without realizing he was running straight into the path of another elephant. “There was no…