ADF

ADF STAFF Along their northern borders, Gulf of Guinea countries have experienced repeated incursions by extremists crossing over from Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger. Faced with rising pressure from Sahel-based extremists, Gulf countries must be careful to avoid the same traps that have crippled their neighbors to the north, experts say. Ghana’s National Security Minister, Albert Kan-Dapaah, has called for greater cooperation among Gulf of Guinea countries and their northern neighbors to counter the extremist threat, which he has described as “more widespread than previously thought.” The 2017 Accra Accords, which incorporated Gulf of Guinea countries as well as Burkina…

ADF STAFF Liberia and Senegal took a significant step in their fight to end illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing in February when the countries signed a memorandum of understanding aimed at promoting and facilitating cooperation in fisheries inspection and related operations. Maritime security experts have long promoted collaboration in the battle against crimes at sea, as the Pew Charitable Trusts highlighted in a recent report titled, “To End Illegal Fishing, Countries Must Work Together .” Cooperation is key in addressing illegal fishing since “no one has the resources by themselves, particularly developing countries, to address it from a capability and capacity…

ADF STAFF Violence in the eastern region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) continues to rage, as rebels are trying to exploit ethnic divisions. Recent reporting by international advocacy organization Human Rights Watch (HRW) revealed attacks by the group known as the M23 Movement were intended to exacerbate ethnic tensions between Hutu and Tutsi. HRW senior researcher Thomas Fessy, who wrote the February 6 report, said it is a calculated move on the part of the M23. “The M23 is mainly led by Tutsi, and they’ve been increasingly brandishing the ‘identity card,’ basically saying, ‘We’re here to protect…

ADF STAFF The rapid growth of internet use across West Africa is prompting calls for the region to cooperate on cybersecurity. A joint approach can protect private citizens, business, government institutions and critical infrastructure from online attacks, according to cybersecurity expert Folake Olagunju. “It has to be a whole society approach,” Olagunju said during a podcast interview with the EU International Partners Academy. Olagunju is the program officer for internet and cybersecurity at ECOWAS, the Economic Community of West African States. Since 2019, internet use across West Africa has grown by about 25%. That growth has been unevenly distributed across…

ADF STAFF In Ghana’s northeast corner, residents of border communities such as Sapelliga and Bawku see citizens of Burkina Faso fleeing violence and many wonder when it will descend on them. “Everyone in this community is worried because we don’t know exactly where [terrorists] are and where they come from,” Sapelliga resident Awudu Abanga told DW news service. “Who knows where the terrorists will come from?” Bawku, a key trading hub for the region, is a 45-minute drive from the Burkinabé community of Bittou, where terrorists killed six people in December. As they have watched their neighbors repel repeated attacks,…

ADF STAFF Large, indiscriminate ambushes by the Islamic State Sahel Province (IS Sahel) on rival terrorist groups, government forces and civilians in northeast Mali has contributed to the highest civilian death count since conflict erupted there more than a decade ago. IS Sahel was a target of France’s counter-extremist campaign known as Operation Barkhane, which ended in November. The group has since launched an offensive on an “unprecedented scale,” according to ACLED, a conflict monitoring group. “Since the end of the Barkhane operation, we can feel the rise in power of the Islamic State,” Baba Dakono, a political and security…

ADF STAFF Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) Lt. Col. Peter Mwangi smiled broadly when asked about the effect of Exercise Justified Accord on his participating Soldiers. “This multinational exercise is the best form of morale for our troops,” he told ADF. The commanding officer of the KDF’s 27th Mechanized Infantry Battalion, Mwangi listed several goals of the exercise, singling out one that he felt was most important — promoting cooperation to neutralize terrorism in the East Africa region. “We want to make sure our troops are ready,” he said. Many of the exercise’s highlights went a long way toward accomplishing those…

ADF STAFF Nearly five years after they first arrived in Libya, Wagner Group mercenaries show no signs that they’re willing to leave the country, despite a joint demand by representatives of Libya’s rival governments for them to do so. Since the 2020 ceasefire that ended active hostilities between Libya’s warring factions, an estimated 2,000 Wagner mercenaries have settled in the central part of the country. From there, they continue to train soldiers based in the east under the command of Gen. Khalifa Haftar. Wagner fighters have focused much of their activity around oil facilities in the eastern Cyrenaika province bordering…

ADF STAFF Somali forces killed six al-Shabaab fighters in late January, but not before the terrorists bombed the office of Mogadishu’s mayor, stormed a government facility, killed at least five civilians and injured at least 16 more. It was one of the latest in a series of terrorist attacks that have increasingly been perpetrated in Somalia and other parts of sub-Saharan Africa in recent years. Like al-Shabaab, violent extremist groups such as Al-Sunna wa Jama’a, or ASWJ, Boko Haram, Daesh and Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimeen, or JNIM, are seizing on local grievances to establish a foothold in mostly rural…

ADF STAFF For years, Iranian weapons have wound up in Somalia, where they are sold to violent extremist groups such as al-Shabaab and the Islamic State. Through financial incentives, Iran established a proxy network in Somalia and has used the country to funnel weapons to the Houthi militia in Yemen since around 2016. A new report by the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) revealed that the weapons smuggling network also likely extends to groups linked to al-Shabaab in Ethiopia, Kenya and Mozambique, fueling insecurity around the Horn of Africa. Iranian weapons also are commonly transported to the Central African Republic, South Sudan…