ADF

ADF STAFF Days after a coup d’etat in Burkina Faso in early 2022, a reporter stood on the campus of Joseph Ki-Zerbo University in Ouagadougou and asked students how they felt. A third-year philosophy student named Kadlé expressed a sentiment echoed by many Burkinabe. “We need elections, we need democracy, but if it doesn’t get results, what use is it?” he told Radio France Internationale. It’s a view repeated all over the Sahel region. A lack of security has left fed up citizens willing to support anyone who promises a return to safety. This, combined with a crisis of confidence…

ADF STAFF When experts and activists gathered recently to advance a different approach to conflict resolution in Africa, they found their host nation of Burundi to be a fitting backdrop. “No one knows what the devastation of war is all about like the people here in this region,” Frederic Gateretse-Ngoga said. “This is a region which has known genocides, so we know what it means.” Ngoga has the credentials to help improve the peacebuilding process with an approach known as “social peace.” Ngoga heads the Early Warning and Conflict Prevention Division in the African Union’s Peace and Security Department and…

ADF STAFF In 2020, Zimbabwean journalist Hopewell Chin’ono published an article online that exposed government misuse of funds intended to help the country fight the COVID-19 pandemic. He was arrested a short time later and charged with inciting violence. It would be the first of several arrests for Chin’ono, who has repeatedly posted comments critical of the government on his social media channels. Zimbabwe’s constitution guarantees free expression, but in recent years authorities have cracked down on social media posts and other online activity deemed critical of the government. In December 2021, President Emmerson Mnangagwa signed the Data Protection Act,…

ADF STAFF Collectively, Africa’s coastal countries are responsible for more than 13 million square kilometers of maritime territory, a huge undertaking that is beyond the capacity of most countries. Enter unmanned vehicles. Countries are embracing the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) to strengthen their ability to patrol and control their coastal waters. Drones allow for surveillance and documentation of piracy, illegal fishing and other activities with minimal human resources. “One takeaway is the enhanced situational awareness from this technology expanding the range of sight in the field against targets in the field,” Nigerian drone…

ADF STAFF About one-third of Africa’s 1.3 billion people are online these days, with millions more expected to join them as mobile and broadband technology expands rapidly across the continent. With so many new users joining the internet, financial scammers, identity thieves and other malicious actors are targeting people across the continent. According Check Point Research, African nations experienced an average of 1,848 cyberattacks per week in 2022, a number that was higher than the rest of the world combined. Nigeria, which has Africa’s largest number of internet users, remains an origination point and a primary target for cyberattacks, followed…

ADF STAFF After visiting Kyiv, Ukraine, in April, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres took a delayed trip to the Sahel to focus international attention on the deteriorating security situation there. His dilemma, and that of the entire African continent, was how to address crises amid an overwhelming international focus on Ukraine. Numerous threats to peace and safety on the continent bubbled to the surface in 2022, while older perils festered. Looking ahead to 2023, African security experts who spoke to ADF predicted the top security challenges for the coming year and offered thoughts on how to respond to them. Rising…

ADF STAFF Five years after its formation, Accra Initiative has agreed to assemble a multinational military force to help stop the spread of violent extremism spilling out of the Sahel toward West African coastal nations. A meeting of the International Conference on the Accra Initiative in Accra, Ghana, on November 21 and 22 addressed the continuing danger of extremist violence in Sahelian states and the threat it poses to neighboring West African coastal nations. “The situation is worrying and quite alarming,” Albert Kan-Dapaah, Ghana’s national security chief, told The Africa Report. “We cannot sit unconcerned. No country is safe from…

ADF STAFF The COVID-19 pandemic helped to accelerate the growth of digital technology across Africa, but it also led to an explosion of internet-related crime. The arrests in September of 75 members of Nigeria’s Black Axe criminal organization and other West African gangs shows how pervasive the problem has become. The Interpol operation that uncovered the crimes spanned 14 countries on four continents and led to arrests of members in countries ranging from Ireland to South Africa. Police seized $1.2 million in stolen funds along with 12,000 mobile phone SIM cards and a variety of luxury items, including expensive cars.…

ADF STAFF Kenyan President William Ruto’s recent decision to reveal key parts of a major Chinese loan reveals the lopsided terms African nations often face when borrowing from China. In some cases, these loans can put their own economies at risk as they struggle with high levels of debt. Ruto lifted the lid on Kenya’s initial $2 billion loan from the Export-Import Bank of China that financed the construction by a Chinese company of the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) between the port of Mombasa and Nairobi. The entire railway, including a link with neighboring Uganda, costs $4.7 billion. Construction beyond…

ADF STAFF South African officials are vowing to dismantle terror cells that have links to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). “We will not allow our territory to be used to fund terrorism in other countries,” said Mondli Gungubele, the minister in the presidency responsible for state security on November 9. “As such and working with our counterparts in the fight against terrorism, we will do everything in our power to uncover and root out acts of terrorism and illicit financing in particular.” In November, less than a week after the United States and other countries issued a…