ADF

ADF STAFF With more than 600 million people online and millions more soon to join them, African nations face growing demand to safeguard cyberspace against hackers, scammers and extremists. Ghana provides a model for how to do that. In recent years, Ghana has become a regional leader in cybersecurity. The country has achieved that position by creating a civilian-led cybersecurity network rooted in the country’s Ministry of Communication but with key branches in the security and technology sectors. On the front line of Ghana’s ongoing fight against online threats, the Cyber Security Authority (CSA), created in 2021, and National Computer…

ADF STAFF On January 16, the Somali government announced a major victory. Its military had liberated Harardhere, an al-Shabaab stronghold on the Indian Ocean coast that the terrorist group had held for a decade. Formerly a base for pirates who hijacked and ransomed ships at sea, Harardhere was a significant source of revenue for al-Shabaab, which had used the port since 2011 to generate revenue by taxing imported goods. After he was elected in 2022, Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud declared a “total war” against the terrorist group and vowed to cut off the group’s funding. “Al-Shabaab will not be…

ADF STAFF Members of the Royal Moroccan Armed Forces knifed through the Gulf of Guinea in two speeding patrol boats. Their destination: a massive vessel on the horizon. They arrived in minutes. “One by one, one by one,” one of them called as they ascended a ladder on the side of the ship with their guns drawn. On board, they did a thorough search for contraband and signs of illicit activity. The Moroccan forces were participating in Obangame Express 2023, the largest multinational maritime exercise in Western and Central Africa. The annual international maritime security exercise sponsored by U.S. Africa…

ADF STAFF Sudan closed its border with the Central African Republic (CAR) in early January, claiming the action was necessary to head off a coup attempt against the CAR’s leadership. However, some observers are denying the report and saying Sudan’s actions may have been meant to benefit Russia’s Wagner Group mercenaries. Sudanese Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, also known as Hemedti, declared last month that the border closing had stopped an armed group from entering the CAR from Sudanese territory. Dagalo didn’t specify which group had been stopped, only saying that they had been wearing uniforms of Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces…

ADF STAFF To confront a host of cybersecurity threats in 2023, internet users and governments need updated technology, quicker reactions and greater transparency about attacks. That is the assessment of Cyber Security Experts Association of Nigeria (CSEAN), which recently issued a report detailing the threats facing the country. Many of the same threats apply across the continent as the expansion of digital technology brings millions of Africans onto the internet, often unprepared for the scams awaiting them. “In 2023, we envisage an increase in the exploitation of computing resources of government establishments for malicious use,” wrote the report’s authors. Government-held…

ADF STAFF A suspicious vehicle was driving through the streets of Durban, South Africa, around 3:45 a.m. with water leaking out of the back. When police pulled over the red Toyota Condor they found eight bags of shelled abalone worth about R500,000 (just more than $29,100), South African newspaper Daily Maverick reported. The driver was arrested as it is illegal to harvest abalone without a permit under South African law. The mid-January incident is common in South Africa, where abalone poaching is often controlled by gangs and linked to the devastating spread of crystal methamphetamine and other drugs. The country…

ADF STAFF Three years after Burkina Faso recruited civilian volunteers to join the fight against terrorists in its northern regions, those groups are being blamed for crimes. The deaths of 30 people in late December in the Nouna community in the western province of Kossi are the latest example of how the groups, known as Volunteers for the Defense of the Fatherland (VDP), have become more aggressive. Critics say they have shifted from simply observing and reporting suspected terrorism to authorities and have begun taking matters into their own hands. “VDPs have been accused of abuses committed against civilians,” wrote…

The war-weary people of Casamance are desperate for peace, but timber and cannabis trafficking continue to fuel conflict. An agreement signed in August 2022 between a factional leader of the Movement of Democratic Forces of Casamance (MFDC) and Senegal brought some hope that the 40-year conflict might be nearing an end. Neighboring Guinea-Bissau mediated the agreement. But observers immediately questioned whether the agreement could hold since it was signed by the leader of only one MFDC faction, while others were not involved. “To my knowledge, this is neither a peace agreement nor even a cease-fire,” Jean-Claude Marut, an expert on…

ADF STAFF Despite much speculation that Chinese lenders were constructing a so-called “debt trap” as a way to claim key national assets from their African borrowers, an analysis by the think tank Chatham House suggests that China might have actually trapped itself. “In some cases, the lending was haphazard and not strategic or particularly political,” Chatham House analyst Alex Vines told ADF in an email. “I suspect that this has resulted in a reverse debt trap. That is why Beijing used its handbrake on profligate lending in 2018 and has been much more selective since.” Over the past two decades,…

ADF STAFF There was no gunfire in Banjul, the capital of The Gambia, on December 20, 2022, or the next day when the government announced it had thwarted an attempted coup. What began with rumors ended with an official statement. “Based on intelligence reports, some soldiers of the Gambian army were plotting to overthrow the democratically elected government of President Adama Barrow,” it read. “The GAF [Gambian Armed Forces] High Command, in a swift military operation conducted yesterday, arrested four soldiers linked to this alleged coup plot.” The Gambia announced on December 27 that an 11-member investigative panel would investigate…