ADF

ADF STAFF Holding his baby on his shoulders with one hand and a large bag of clothes for his family of eight on the other, Safari Hangi led the way to safety, walking alongside a dirt road toward the capital of North Kivu province. The eastern region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is brimming with rebels, security forces and refugees. All are on the move. The M23 rebellion reignited more than a year ago and, in early 2023, rebel advances left hundreds of civilians dead. The rebels are accused of massacres, rape, forced recruitment and other atrocities.…

ADF STAFF Swarming, indiscriminate attacks in the Sahel region. Suicide car bombings in Somalia. Villages burned in Mozambique. Islamic violence killed more than 19,100 people in Africa in 2022, a 48% increase over the previous year. That is according to a new report by the Africa Center for Strategic Studies (ACSS), which showed that violent extremist groups committed 6,859 attacks in Africa last year, a 22% increase over 2021. The increase in militant Islamist-linked fatalities was marked by a 68% increase in fatalities involving civilians. Last year’s death toll eclipses the previous peak of 18,850 fatalities linked to militant Islamists…

ADF STAFF A day after South African President Cyril Ramaphosa declared a national state of disaster over flooding that affected seven of the country’s nine provinces, the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) announced it will establish a unit dedicated to disaster management countrywide. Through the unit, the South African Army will lead responses to disasters. Soldiers were already responding to flood victims in affected provinces while safeguarding utility infrastructure, said SANDF chief Gen. Rudzani Maphanywa. The unit will have its own resources specific to disaster management. “The boats and the aircrafts that I [currently] take to go and respond…

ADF STAFF Groundbreaking began on new facilities at the G5 Sahel Defense College on February 14 in Nouakchott, Mauritania. Once complete, the addition will include an expanded library, classroom space, a 20-seat language learning lab, and computers and audio translation equipment. The $5 million project funded by the U.S. government is expected to take one year to complete. “When it is finished in 2024, the library will provide dedicated space for regional military officers to advance their academic and English skills,” said U.S. Ambassador Cynthia Kierscht. “Equally important, the library will be a physical symbol of two important roles of…

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…