ADF

ADF STAFF Since early 2020, Mali has banned the export of rosewood, also known as kosso. Despite that, nearly 150,000 tons of the wood — equal to 220,000 trees — left the country over the last two years, all of it with a single destination: China. “Rosewood is a species traditionally and culturally valued by the Chinese, so there’s almost like an insatiable demand there,” Haibing Ma, Asia policy expert for the London-based Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), told Voice of America. China’s hunger for rosewood and other forest materials, such as ebony and teak, is stripping forests, crippling both the…

ADF STAFF A large industrial fishing vessel casts its massive net off the coast off Saint-Louis, Senegal. The net, which looks like a halo atop the water, can catch more fish in a week than an artisanal canoe can catch in a year. There was a time when local fishermen made a satisfactory living fishing in their own waters, but the influx of foreign trawlers has decimated fish stocks in Saint-Louis and around West Africa. Illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing costs the region $2.3 billion each year, according to the United Nations. IUU fishing is also linked to other sea crimes,…

ADF STAFF Anti-United Nations protests in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have spurred experts and stakeholders to consider major changes to the approach to missions around the world. The three most complex missions in Africa — in the DRC, Mali and the Central African Republic — are called “stabilization” missions. They deal with an array of political challenges, criminal networks, extremist groups and mercenaries. There is no durable peace to keep in these countries, so the objective is to stabilize each country enough for its own government to operate. These types of missions are now being reconsidered.…

ADF STAFF Christelle Youmbi’s 11-year-old son was taking a bath behind their house in the Boko-Boudeye community of the Central African Republic when Wagner Group mercenaries grabbed the naked boy and carried him away as he struggled to escape. “I begged them to tell me where they were taking him to, but they refused to say anything,” Youmbi told news website The Daily Beast. In all, Wagner mercenaries snatched seven boys between the ages of 10 and 13 from the community that day, according to reports. They told Youmbi they were taking the community’s boys to keep them safe ahead…

ADF STAFF In its latest bid to remain in power, the military junta that took control of Sudan nearly a year ago is supporting a proposal that would make the military the country’s supreme authority. The move has sparked outrage among pro-democracy protesters and led to fears of widening turmoil. “Sudan’s democratic fate is in the balance,” wrote Guma Kunda Komey, a former advisor to Sudan’s prime minister, and John Goodman, an expert in conflict resolution. “Hundreds of thousands of Sudanese are in the street, risking their lives for peaceful change. Yet the world is not paying attention.” In July,…

ADF STAFF The fight against Boko Haram and other extremist groups has taken a mental toll on members of Nigeria’s military. To help Soldiers struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other mental issues, the Defence and Police Officers’ Wives Association (DEPOWA) is establishing a PTSD diagnostic, treatment and research center to serve military personnel in Abuja. The first phase of the project is expected to be commissioned by April 2023, according to a report by Channel Network Afrique. A survey of military wives across the country showed that many troops experience nightmares, anxiety, insomnia, bursts of anger, depression, flashbacks…

ADF STAFF Founded in 1925, Virunga is Africa’s oldest national park. It is one of the continent’s most biologically diverse conservation areas and is home to one-third of the planet’s endangered wild mountain gorillas. The park is located in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), where more than 100 armed groups battle Congolese and Ugandan Soldiers, United Nations peacekeepers, local militias and each other. Virunga has seen a spate of shocking attacks on rangers in recent years, including 19 killed so far in 2022, according to the Thin Green Line Foundation (TGL), an international charity that supports rangers and the…

ADF STAFF When officials inaugurated the National Defence University-Kenya (NDU-K) in August, it was more than just the opening of a new school. For those present at the sprawling campus in Lanet, it was the culmination of decades of investment in the country’s professional military education. Forty years ago, Kenya was the first country in the region to establish a staff college; 25 years ago, it was the first to establish a national defense college. Now, the NDU-K represents another first. It is the first “specialized degree-awarding research institution” in Kenya to train security professionals and civilians. It will be…

ADF STAFF Authorities in Liberia, Tanzania and Togo will work with United Nations officials throughout September to get illicit small arms and light weapons out of circulation. The U.N. Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA) is collaborating with the three countries this year in support of the African Union’s “Silencing the Guns” initiative, which is part of the AU’s Agenda 2063. Signed in 2013, the agenda represents a 50-year Pan-African vision of an “integrated, prosperous and peaceful Africa, driven by its own citizens, representing a dynamic force in the international arena,” according to the AU. The “Silencing the Guns” initiative is…

ADF STAFF From southern Sudan to central Mali, the stories are almost identical: Russian-speaking men, sometimes accompanied by local soldiers, enter a community and brutally attack and kill residents. The Russian speakers belong to the Wagner Group, a Moscow-backed mercenary organization that Russian President Vladimir Putin uses to acquire both influence and natural resources in some of the world’s most unstable nations. Wagner is operated by Putin confidant Yevgeny Prigozhin. “The fallacy of Wagner is that they’re there to provide security services,” Joseph Siegle, director of research at the Africa Center for Strategic Studies, told ADF in an interview. “They’re…