ADF

ADF STAFF One day after the Russian military invaded Ukraine, dozens of people protested outside the Russian embassy in Cape Town, South Africa. With the blue and yellow flag of her country draped across her body, Dzvinka Kachur joined in chants of “Stop War, Stop Putin” and addressed the media as spokesperson for the Ukrainian Association of South Africa. Her voice cracked with emotion as she called for an end to the Russian aggression. Kachur, a researcher at the Centre for Sustainability Transitions at South Africa’s Stellenbosch University, told ADF that Russia’s invasion and the reasons it used to justify…

ADF STAFF When Thomas Thabane, then Lesotho’s prime minister, broke ground on a prominent Chinese-funded road construction project in 2018, he declared that his government’s goal was to develop the country and free the Basotho people from poverty. “It has been a long-held dream to have this route transformed from gravel to a tarred road,” he said. For some, the project has been nothing short of a nightmare. A recent investigation by the MNN Centre for Investigative Journalism in Lesotho reported widespread abuse at the multinational Chinese construction company Qingjing (CNQC), which worked in the small, mountainous country landlocked inside…

ADF STAFF Rampant overfishing, driven by the demands of the global fishmeal and fish oil industry, is leading to food insecurity in West Africa. Artisanal fishermen around the region have angrily denounced the presence of fish oil and fishmeal factories, which they blame for decimating fish stocks, damaging ecosystems and reducing tourism revenue. The factories, mostly Chinese-owned and -operated, press sardinella, bonga and other species for oil and grind them into powder that is exported to feed livestock and farmed fish around the world. Some of the farmed fish and shrimp then return to West Africa as expensive imported products.…

ADF STAFF At a training facility in Jacqueville, Côte d’Ivoire, Soldiers with Ghana’s Special Forces Unit leaned a metal ladder against an earthen wall as they practiced assaulting a village held by insurgents. One Soldier began climbing while his two partners kept watch for enemies. The Ghanaian troops were among 400 Soldiers from West Africa and the Sahel participating in Operation Flintlock 2022 in February. Côte d’Ivoire hosted this year’s Flintlock at its new International Academy for Combating Terrorism outside of Abidjan. The 1,100-hectare campus includes a school for government officials, a training center for special forces and a research…

ADF STAFF Experts have long insisted that the success of Mozambique’s counterinsurgency operation in the northern province of Cabo Delgado depends on improving not just security, but its economic outlook and community relations. Multifaceted plans are coming together to do just that. In his recent State of the Nation address, Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi spoke optimistically to parliament about the regional counterinsurgency effort underway, claiming that the number of attacks had dropped substantially. “The joint operations of the Mozambican, SADC [Southern African Development Community] and Rwandan armed forces have registered remarkable progress with immediate impact in neutralizing the combative capacity…

ADF STAFF The use of a self-guided drone on the Libyan battlefield may have been a first in Africa. Now experts are voicing concern about their expanded use. In March 2020, as fighters loyal to Libyan Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar retreated from a battle, their pursuers included a self-directed drone launched by the then-Government of National Unity. The craft was powered by artificial intelligence (AI) and programmed to attack on its own. As outlined in a United Nations report published a year later, the attack by the Turkish-made STM Kargu-2 drone may have been the first recorded use of a…

ADF STAFF Under overcast skies, Ghanaian fishermen in a wooden canoe strained to haul in their fishing nets through choppy waters 17 kilometers off the coast. Despite hours of struggle, their nets were mostly empty. “I am not happy at all today,” Nana Kwentsiar, a fisherman from the coastal village Elmina, told broadcaster Deutsche Welle (DW). “We didn’t get [as much] fish as we were expecting.” Due to illegal overfishing by foreign industrial trawlers, mostly from China, Ghana’s fish stocks are in steep decline. Its small pelagic fish populations, such as sardinella, have dropped 80% in the past two decades.…

ADF STAFF In a press conference in January, Zambia announced that it would be one of the first countries in Africa to offer a 5G mobile network as part of a pilot project. The technology, which stands for “fifth generation mobile network,” promises fast connectivity and low latency so phone users can exchange information and download data at high speeds. It is part of a project by Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei in partnership with South African carrier MTN. “It will transform the way we live and work, and it will offer exciting new opportunities for entrepreneurs and youth in our…

ADF STAFF The news that a junta had overthrown Burkinabe President Roch Marc Christian Kaboré, the only democratically elected head of state in the country’s history, had a familiar ring to it. It was the fourth successful military coup in West Africa in the last 18 months, following Mali in August 2020 and May 2021 and Guinea in September 2021. On a continent that has had 11 coups in the past decade and at least 20 attempted coups, West Africa stands out for its recent upheaval. The question is why? Each coup has distinct differences while also being connected, said…

ADF STAFF Illegal fishing by large industrial trawlers in Ghana has decimated fish stocks to the brink of collapse and left small-scale fishermen with empty nets. In Elmina, a coastal fishing town about 155 kilometers southwest of Accra, artisanal fishermen have had enough. Although Ghana’s government allows a maximum of 48 industrial trawlers in its waters, more than 70 were licensed as of July 2021. “The key stakeholders, the canoe owners should be involved in the participation, in the decision-making, in the governance, and in the management of our resources,” fisherman Nana Kweigya told Deutsche Welle (DW). Kweigya added that…