ADF

ADF STAFF At first glance, and by design, Russian Houses in Africa appear to be like any other nation’s cultural exchange centers. On its Facebook page, the Russian House in Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic (CAR), calls itself “an educational and cultural platform.” They are closely linked to Rossotrudnichestvo, the official Russian agency for international cooperation. But experts and investigative journalists say Russian Houses are central to the Kremlin’s vast disinformation and propaganda operation on the continent. Rossotrudnichestvo signed agreements in 2024 to formally establish Russian Houses in the CAR, Chad, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea, Nigeria, Sierra Leone…

ADF STAFF More than 930,000 people have fled Sudan’s civil war for eastern Chad, the majority of them arriving in the Ouaddaï province, where locals already faced extreme poverty and ethnic tensions. The Sudanese refugees are mostly women and children from North Darfur and West Darfur, whose capital, Al-Geneina, was the scene of abuses against non-Arab populations in 2023. The large influx of refugees traumatized by the atrocities committed by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Sudan is “importing new grievances against the Arab community, which are fueling the prejudices of Ouaddaïans,” according to a new report by the…

ADF STAFF The Tunisian Air Force continues to expand its transport fleet with the addition of a another C-130 Hercules plane from the United States. It is the third such plane delivered to Tunisia since 2021. The aircraft was handed over during a November 18 ceremony at Sidi Ahmed Air Base in Bizerte, presided over by the Chief of Staff of the Tunisian Air Force, Lt. Gen. Mohamed Hajem and Defense Minister Khaled Sehili. The delivery of the C-130H aircraft, valued at a total of 36 million Tunisian dinars ($12 million), continues to expand the Tunisian Air Force’s air transport…

ADF STAFF Increasing instability in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger has created an opening for Turkey to deploy private military contractors to the region. However, the deployment comes as Islamic extremists are inflicting casualties on Russian contractors and may turn their weapons on Turkey’s fighters as well, analysts say. Earlier this year, Turkey’s Sadat International Defense Consultancy, a private military contractor closely allied with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, sent 1,100 fighters recruited from Syrian refugee camps to Niger. The fighters were positioned in the hotly contested Liptako-Gourma region, where the three Sahelian countries meet. Violence perpetrated in that region by…

ADF STAFF Constance was 13 years old when she left her home in North Kivu province in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo to join a militia called the Alliance of Patriots for a Free and Sovereign Congo. Child soldiers are known as kadogos, which means “little ones” in Swahili. Despite her small stature, she carried rocket-propelled grenades and supported fighters on the battlefront against M23 rebels. “I went to war,” she told The Guardian from a displacement camp near the provincial capital, Goma. “It was a nightmare.” Experts say the recruitment of children has surged since…

ADF STAFF As part of the fight against illegal fishing, drug and human trafficking, piracy, oil theft, and other sea crimes in the Gulf of Guinea, navies and coast guards from more than two dozen countries participated in the Grand African Navy Exercise for Maritime Operations (NEMO) 2024. The exercise, an annual maritime security event led by the French Navy, focused on strengthening coordination across five operational zones in the Gulf of Guinea. It was launched at the Multinational Maritime Coordination Centre in Accra, Ghana. At the opening ceremony, Ghana Chief of Naval Staff Issah Adam Yakubu said that the exercise…

ADF STAFF Before it gained independence in 1957, Ghana was a British colony known as the Gold Coast. An old saying grew popular: “There is no land in Ghana which doesn’t have gold, even in the topsoil. Ghana is gold.” Today, Ghana is the largest producer of gold on the continent and the sixth largest in the world, but it is struggling to address widespread illegal gold mining, called “galamsey” by locals, who say it pollutes the country and threatens the economy. Ghanaian miners used to extract gold from shallow depths using shovels, picks, pans and their hands. Today, galamseyers…

ADF STAFF Former Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok says it is up to the people of his country, aided by the international community, to end the brutal war that has shattered Sudan since April 2023. “The primary responsibility for stopping this war rests with the Sudanese people,” Hamdok recently told DW during an hourlong interview. “If we are able to unite in a broad front that brings everybody together against the war, that will form the first step in stopping this war. But, also, we don’t live in isolation. We need the support that will be brought by the regional…

ADF STAFF A terror organization known as Lukarawas is sowing fear in northwest Nigeria’s Kebbi and Sokoto states, an area in which Boko Haram, the Islamic State West African Province and bandit gangs continuously wreak havoc. On November 9, Lukarawas, which is linked to the Islamic State group (IS), is accused of killing 15 people in Mera, a Kebbi State town, and stealing a large number of cattle. “As of now we are yet to ascertain the identity of the attackers,” Superintendent of Police Nafiu Abubakar, Kebbi State Police spokesperson, told Sahara Reporters. “It’s too early to confirm whether the…

ADF STAFF Thousands of members of the Dar Hamar tribe gathered for a rally in support of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) in Sudan’s West Kordofan region in mid-November. In one of only a handful of places in West Kordofan still controlled by the Sudanese military, they chanted, “One Army, One People” and “All Strength, Onward to Fula,” according to the Sudan War Monitor. “The depths of the earth are preferable to the surface if the Rapid Support Forces [RSF] invade our land,” emir Abdulqadir Moniem Mansour, leader of the Arab Hamar tribes, said to the crowd. There was not…