ADF

ADF STAFF A decade after it was declared a supermarket for illegal arms traffickers, Libya once again has become a source of illegal weapons flowing into conflicts across the Sahel and neighboring coastal states. “The high demand for arms and ammunition has given traffickers an opportunity to continue their lucrative trade,” researcher Hassane Koné wrote in a recent analysis for the Institute for Security Studies. As was the case during Libya’s first civil war in 2011, terrorist groups are buying poorly secured weapons through smuggling routes that cross the Sahara into Niger and Mali. From there, weapons are distributed to…

ADF STAFF Tens of thousands of residents fled the town of Bunagana in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) when M23 rebels seized it in June. “They are all over, the streets are full, others have gone to churches, they are under trees, everywhere,” Ugandan district commissioner Shaffiq Sekandi told Reuters news service of the refugees. “It’s a really desperate situation.” Bunagana, a major commercial hub on the border with Uganda, remains in the hands of M23 months later. The rebels, named after a failed peace deal signed on March 23, 2009, trace their lineage from Congolese rebel groups…

ADF STAFF Over the past decade, China has loaned more than $17 billion to Ghana for a variety of infrastructure projects from hydroelectric projects to broadband internet systems. As China’s lending has grown, so has Ghana’s debt, putting the West African country at the top of a recent list of countries at risk of default. The analysis of Bloomberg’s Sovereign Debt Vulnerability Ranking at visualcapitalism.com listed 25 countries by their debt burden and default risk. Thirteen countries on the list are in Africa, spanning the continent. Ghana leads the African countries on the list because of two factors: Ghana’s government…

ADF STAFF Illegal fishing is decimating South Africa’s once-thriving stocks of abalone, rock lobster and other marine species. As in other coastal nations, vessels engaged in illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing in South Africa routinely sail into prohibited waters, catch huge amounts of fish — often with illicit gear — then transfer their catches to large, factory-size vessels farther out at sea. IUU fishing costs the nation billions of rand, harms ecosystems critical to the survival of marine life and leaves artisanal fishermen with empty nets. Illegally caught marine resources in South Africa often are exported to Hong Kong.…

ADF STAFF Africa’s young population can be or a source of instability or a springboard to prosperity. Experts say it’s up to the continent’s security and political leaders to harness this “youth bulge” to create a better future. “We need to ask ourselves, ‘Can Africa seize the opportunities being presented?’ Or do African youth constitute a ticking, demographic time bomb?” said Dr. Joel Amegboh, an assistant professor at the Africa Center for Strategic Studies (ACSS), who researches “youth peace and security.” The term “youth bulge” refers to a demographic pattern in which a large share of the population is composed…

ADF STAFF A growing number of foreign-owned vessels with a history of illegal fishing are flying Cameroon’s red, yellow and green flag. An Associated Press (AP) investigation found that 14 vessels hoisting Cameroonian flags are owned or managed by companies in Belgium, Cyprus, Latvia and Malta. Each vessel switched flags to Cameroon between 2019 and 2021. At least six of the vessels and their owners are known to underreport their catch, fail to declare where it goes and disclose who benefits financially from it. Foreign fishing boats commonly “flag in” to African nations, meaning they use and abuse local rules to flag…

ADF STAFF As terrorism spreads south from the Sahel toward the Gulf of Guinea, Ghana stands out among its neighbors for its lack of attacks. But experts are warning that the country might be living on borrowed time. Professor Emmanuel Kwesi Aning, director of faculty of academic affairs and research at the Ghana-based Kofi Anan International Peacekeeping Training Centre, toured all of Ghana’s border posts as part of a research project on behalf of the United Nations. He found “a dire picture of unpreparedness” in the regions bordering Burkina Faso, which has become a source of terrorism spreading to its…

ADF STAFF In the pale light of dawn on July 22, two vehicles rigged with explosives set off on a deadly attack on Mali’s biggest military base in Kati, just 15 kilometers northwest of the capital of Bamako. Islamist militants entered the camp, burned parked vehicles and stole two Army vehicles. Heavy gunfire was heard for an hour before helicopters circled above the base. Col. Assimi Goïta, the leader of Mali’s military junta who regularly stays at his house on the base, reportedly was whisked away in a convoy heading to Bamako. Never before in the decadelong insurgency by al-Qaida…

ADF STAFF Zamfara State Gov. Bello Matawalle says more than 30,000 bandits are operating across six states in northern Nigeria, including his own. Since the federal government designated armed bandits as terrorists, the use of force against these groups is now part of the country’s military strategy. One of Matawalle’s approaches in Zamfara, thought to be the epicenter of banditry in Nigeria, is to arm civilians. “The crisis defied all forms of solution,” he said in an April 1 news briefing. He directed the state police commissioner to issue 500 gun licenses in each of the 19 emirates in the…

ADF STAFF The recordings posted online in 2020 claimed to be Ghanaian President Nana Afuko-Addo endorsing several notorious conspiracy theories about the COVID-19 pandemic. There was one problem: The recordings were fake. Afuko-Addo’s office quickly rebutted the claims, and others online pointed out that the voice was not the president’s. But soon one recording had been heard more than 400,000 times in Nigeria alone. From the COVID-19 pandemic to local politics, fake news pollutes the flow of information across West Africa, with much of it targeting social media channels and their users. “Those involved do not mean well for the…