ADF

New reporting sheds light on the painstaking intelligence collection, surveillance and cooperation that helped take out a top Islamic State group operative in Nigeria in May. Nigerian security analyst Zagazola Makama covered the events surrounding the May 16 joint Nigerian-United States mission in the Metele area of Borno State that resulted in the death of Abu-Bilal al-Minuki, second in command of IS globally. Through interviews with Nigerian security officials and on-the-ground sources, he was able to piece together a picture of how the terrorist was tracked and killed. Makama said the mission was months in the making and involved close…

Mexican drug cartels have expanded and are increasingly producing methamphetamine in Africa. This was highlighted in mid-May when Nigerian authorities arrested three Mexican nationals and six others at an industrial-scale methamphetamine laboratory in Ogun State’s Abidagba forest. Officials seized chemicals and drugs worth $363 million. The arrests came amid warnings that Mexican cartels were funding continental terrorists, armed groups and criminal groups that help them produce and move the drugs. Analysts say these links are strengthening. Oluwole Ojewale, an organized crime expert with the Institute for Security Studies in Senegal, noted that the Nigerian bust occurred near Lagos, the Nigerian…

Morocco’s Benslimane industrial zone east of Casablanca is becoming a major hub for drone manufacturing, including homegrown technology and Türkiye’s Bayraktar unmanned aerial vehicles. In recent years, Morocco has poured money and talent into becoming a key player in the global drone market. Moroccan companies such as Aerodrive Engineering Services are carving out space in the market while French and Israeli drone manufacturers join their Turkish and British counterparts in Morocco. In 2025, Morocco granted licenses to 10 drone projects worth more than $260 million. The goal, National Defense Administration chief Abdellatif Loudiyi told Parliament, is to build a homegrown…

Decades after Mozambique’s Naparama fighters became famous during the country’s civil war, a new generation of fighters carrying the same name have emerged to confront the threat from Islamic State group terrorists in the country’s north. The original Naparama fighters were a regional militia that fought on the side of the government in the late 1980s and early 1990s during the Mozambican civil war. Naparama fighters followed a set of rules that included refusing to use firearms in favor of bladed weapons or bows and arrows. The modern Naparama militia emerged in November 2022 and has embraced many of the…

A complex war economy has emerged in Sudan that is depleting the country’s natural resources and fueling violence. Intense fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has devastated the economy, and neither side has achieved military victory or begun earnest negotiations for a ceasefire. “External financing and the unimpeded supply of weapons have motivated both factions to prioritize military maximalism,” researcher and analyst Carlota Ahrens Teixeira wrote in a May 7 report for Geopolitical Intelligence Services (GIS). “The sides can continue to fight thanks to illicit financial flows and non-state aligned logistics networks…

When Maj. Gen. Al-Nour Ahmed “al-Qubba” Adam defected from Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in April, he brought a trove of assets with him. Al-Qubba gave the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) more than 130 combat vehicles, a group of loyalists, high-level tactical intelligence and years of brutal battlefield experience. Al-Qubba is one of several top RSF commanders who have recently left to join the SAF. Brig. Gen. Ali “Al-Safna” Rizqallah left the RSF one month after Al-Qubba. Al-Safna played key roles in the battles of Kordofan and El-Fasher. These defections and others led “some to wonder whether the tide…

Several African nations have signed military cooperation agreements with Russia, pinning their hopes on Moscow as they confront jihadist insurgencies. So far, however, that does not appear to be a winning strategy, analysts say. In 2025, Togo joined the list of African nations seeking Russian military training and intelligence sharing as it deals with violence spreading from the Sahel into its northernmost province. Russia has had mercenaries — first Wagner Group, now Africa Corps — stationed in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger for several years. The fighters were invited into the region to help the ruling juntas defeat terrorist groups…

With control of nearly 90% of Zimbabwe’s mining industry, Chinese companies are facing a new level of scrutiny, particularly in the lithium sector. Local communities, civil society and environmental groups have accused mining operations of widespread exploitation and abuse. Zimbabwe sits on the largest lithium deposits on the continent and the sixth-largest reserves in the world. Mining is central to the economy, accounting for about 14.5% of gross domestic product and 75% of national exports. In 2025, Zimbabwe exported 1.128 million metric tons of lithium-bearing spodumene concentrate to China, 11% more than in 2024. But accusations of malpractice and the…

Russia’s Africa Corps is shifting fighters out of Mali’s northern regions to protect the capital and the ruling junta while providing air support and intelligence to Malian soldiers in the field. “By and large they are taking more of a backseat role,” Benedict Manzin, lead Middle East and Africa analyst for U.K.-based intelligence firm Sybiline, told ADF. “They’re doing everything they can to avoid having to feed more bodies into the meat grinder,” he added. “They’re trying to minimize personnel exposure and maximize the damage they can do.” Africa Corps replaced notorious Wagner Group mercenaries in mid-2024. The switch came…

Artificial intelligence plays an increasing role in the way security services respond to disasters and humanitarian crises like floods and disease outbreaks. However, this technology relies on human expertise to analyze and develop strategies based on the data those systems produce. That was the assessment of a group of experts in both artificial intelligence and disaster management assembled recently by the Stimson Center think tank. “In a lot of cases, AI models present a very definitive answer, but there still is inherent uncertainty,” Aaron Opdyke, a disaster risk specialist with the World Bank, said during a panel discussion. “We still…