ADF

ADF STAFF A new report by the United Nations Panel of Experts on the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) revealed the grim security challenges in the active battleground that is the country’s eastern region. A battalion of 750 South Sudanese Soldiers were the latest deployed to the country in an attempt to restore security. They are part of the East African Community Regional Force (EACRF), created to help stem the tide of violence by armed groups. “Protect the civilians and their properties from any harm,” President Salva Kiir told his troops at a ceremony in Juba on December 28.…

ADF STAFF Ghana has become the first West African country to join an international call for banning the trade of rosewood. The move in July 2022 was the latest attempt to stanch the Chinese-driven flow of scarce timber out of the region. The runaway harvesting of rosewood from Ghana’s forests promotes corruption, disrupts relations between farmers and herders, and creates erosion and flooding in forest communities. Small-scale timber harvesters say the pace of harvesting by Chinese companies will leave Ghana with little to no rosewood in a few years. If that happens, Ghana will follow in the footsteps of The…

ADF STAFF The residents of Kishishe and Bumba, small villages in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), ran for their lives as members of the rebel M23 terrorist group massacred their families in late November 2022. Rebels killed between 130 and more than 270 people, mostly civilians, in the attack, according to U.N., media and local government reports. At least 27 women and girls reportedly were raped, some people were abducted and homes were looted. Survivors walked 40 to 60 kilometers to arrive at a camp for displaced people in Kitshanga. A young man named Samuel said he saw six…

ADF STAFF Morocco will become the first African nation to offer military support to Ukraine with the sale of T-72 tanks. Under the deal, the United States and Netherlands will buy 90 T-72B main battle tanks from Morocco with an option to add 30 tanksto the sale in 2023, according to Nigerian news website moneycentral.com.ng. The tanks will be sent to Ukraine after they are modernized by Czechoslovakian company Excalibur Army. More than 20 tanks were to be shipped by late December. Morocco also is sending spare tank parts to Ukraine. The move is being viewed as a change in stance…

ADF STAFF The masked men from Boko Haram entered the village of Shiroro in Nigeria’s Niger State from the nearby Hudawa forest. They fired their weapons as they made their way along Shiroro’s dirt roads. As some members of the group held the villagers at gunpoint, others went house to house, kidnapping the village’s children. The boys would be enlisted as child soldiers; the girls would be married to Boko Haram fighters. From its origins in Nigeria’s Borno State, Boko Haram has spread its brand of violent extremism across northern Nigeria and the Lake Chad region. Its appearance in Niger…

ADF STAFF The United States government delivered a third C-130 Hercules airplane to the Nigerien Air Force in early January. The aircraft will support humanitarian operations and support the fight against extremist groups in the Sahel region. During a handover ceremony at an air base in Niamey, Niger’s Minister of Defense Alkassoum Indatou said the donation demonstrated the strength of bilateral cooperation between Niger and the U.S. “It is important to emphasize that the United States’ support for the C-130 project is more constructive as it covers all areas from management to operational implementation of this aircraft,” Indatou said in…

ADF STAFF After two years of war in Ethiopia’s north, Tigrayan families reconnected in January and cried tears of joy and grief. “My mother cried when she heard my voice after all these months,” a 42-year-old man in Addis Ababa told Agence France-Presse. “I also cried.” Flights to the region’s capital, Mekele, resumed in late December. Banks have reopened. The power grid is reconnected. Telephone and internet connections are restored. The early results of a fragile peace agreement between the Ethiopian federal government and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), signed in Pretoria, South Africa, on November 2, 2022, are…

ADF STAFF Togo’s northern Savanes province remains under a state of emergency as the country contends with repeated attacks by extremists based in neighboring Burkina Faso. Since November 2021, extremists have killed and injured dozens of Savanes residents and Soldiers. One of the worst attacks occurred in May 2022 when dozens of armed men on motorcycles killed eight Soldiers during an attack at a military outpost in Kpinkankandi. After that, more attacks came along Togo’s 131-kilometer border with Burkina Faso, amounting to nearly one a month through November. In December 2022, Togolese President Faure Gnassingbé said he would personally oversee…

As world leaders look to jump-start economic growth, many are turning to the so-called blue economy. African nations are poised to benefit from this focus on maritime commerce and security.   The continent has 38 coastal countries and sits at the intersection of major trade routes connecting Europe, Asia and the Americas. By 2030, Africa’s ocean economy is expected to double compared to 2010 and employ millions more people.  But this growth is not guaranteed. Piracy and armed robbery at sea derail trade. Illegal fishing plunders valuable natural resources. Pollution destroys marine ecosystems and scares away tourists.  Security professionals know the…

Rear Adm. Oumar Wade, Senegalese Navy chief of staff, spoke during the closing ceremony of the multinational Exercise Obangame Express in Dakar, Senegal, on March 18, 2022. His remarks have been translated from the original French and edited for space and clarity. I am again very happy to meet you this morning for the closing ceremony of Exercise Obangame Express. In a year when some 18 countries from the Gulf of Guinea have taken part, not to mention our partners, the number of attendees bears witness to our countries’ commitment to promote and improve maritime security in the Gulf of…