ADF

ADF STAFF Public sentiment against a planned $55 million industrial fishing harbor at Sierra Leone’s tourist-friendly Black Johnson Beach continues to be strong more than a year after it was revealed. Concerned residents started the Save Black Johnson Beach campaign last year and it has succeeded in pressuring the government to conduct an environmental impact assessment and identify protected animal species in the area, according to a May 2022 news release. The group claims to have established legal grounds to challenge the project. The government “knows it can’t go ahead” with the project “but refuses to admit it, so the…

ADF STAFF Once known as a killing field for Africa’s elephants, Tanzania has seen its elephant population grow substantially in recent years thanks in part to better protection against poaching and restrictions of illegal ivory sales. Maurus Msuha, director of wildlife in the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism, told the environmental group Oxpeckers International that militarizing anti-poaching operations and creating other systems to confront poachers has driven the change. “Therefore, we are good in the protection of wildlife,” Msuha said. Recent estimates of Tanzania’s elephant population show that it has grown by nearly 40% to more than 60,000 animals…

ADF STAFF Regional security and collaboration are the focus for more than 7,500 participants from African nations, the United States and NATO countries who came together for exercise African Lion 2022. Morocco is hosting the land, sea and air phases of the annual exercise, the 18th iteration. It’s U.S. Africa Command’s largest and oldest joint annual exercise on the continent. Gen. Belkhir El Farouk, second-in-command of Morocco’s military, welcomed personnel from 20 countries, including 10 African countries, at the June 20th opening ceremony where he stated the goal of the exercise is to consolidate partnerships and facilitate decision-making. “Security challenges force…

ADF STAFF Attacks in West Darfur are awakening fears that the region could return to the violence of its darkest period. Humanitarian groups and international organizations are calling for an intervention as the conflict escalates. In mid-June, a land dispute between two tribes near the town of Kulbus led to the death of more than 100 people and forced thousands to flee. Witnesses and human rights groups say forces controlled by the second-in-command of Sudan’s ruling junta are supporting Arab fighters in the attacks and are heightening the violence. Abkar Altom Adam, secretary-general of the Gimir Shura Council, told the…

ADF STAFF Inside his shop in northern Côte d’Ivoire, 25-year-old tailor Bassina Konate demonstrates his expertise with the tools of his trade — a sewing machine, scissors, cloth and measuring tape. His business in the town of Kong is open every day despite a scarcity of customers. Underneath a calm, stoic demeanor, Konate expresses his frustration over the connected issues of rampant unemployment and his country’s response to the threat of terrorism that has been creeping south from the Sahel. Kong is less than 100 kilometers from the border with Burkina Faso. “There is not enough work here,” he told…

ADF STAFF Emmanuel Essien, a 28-year-old Ghanaian fisheries observer, was proud of his work, which included reporting illegal fishing tactics aboard foreign fishing trawlers. His diligence may have cost him his life. Essien was on board the Chinese trawler Meng Xin 15 when he captured video of the crew engaging in saiko, the illegal transfer of fish from a trawler to a large canoe. Two weeks later, on July 5, 2019, he went missing while working on the same vessel. His report on the video he captured included this sentence: “I humbly plead with the police to investigate further,” The Guardian…

ADF STAFF Russia’s ongoing war with Ukraine has caused grain and fertilizer prices to skyrocket across Africa. About 40% of wheat consumed on the continent comes from the warring nations, driving unprecedented food insecurity and raising the risk of famine. African Union (AU) Chairperson and Senegalese President Macky Sall confronted Putin about the crisis during an in-person meeting in Russia on June 3. “I have come to see you, to ask you to be aware that our countries, even far from the theater (of war), are the victims of this economic crisis,” Sall told Putin, according to a Reuters report.…

ADF STAFF China commands the world’s largest distant-water fishing fleet (DWF), has the world’s worst illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing record, and its crews are known to abuse foreign workers, according to the Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF). An EJF report released in March offers the first global analysis of China’s DWF. It was based on an analysis of China’s own limited fisheries data, which the nation made available in recent years. China’s fishing fleet has targeted African waters, especially the Gulf of Guinea, for decades. “Chinese vessels have the highest rates (not just overall case numbers) of alleged IUU…

ADF STAFF There are signs of progress in the 19-month civil war that has thrown Ethiopia into chaos and displaced millions. A ceasefire brokered in March mostly has held, and humanitarian aid convoys are reaching areas affected by drought and famine. In May, African Union envoy Olusegun Obasanjo negotiated the release of 4,200 prisoners of war in what was termed a “confidence-building exercise.” “There is now a real opportunity for political and diplomatic resolution of the conflict,” Obasanjo said earlier this year. Despite this, major barriers remain to a lasting peace. Experts say if Ethiopia is to avoid a return…

ADF STAFF The East African Community is moving ahead with plans to create a regional military force to deploy to the troubled eastern region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The DRC officially joined the East African Community, or EAC, as the regional bloc’s seventh partner state on March 29. Other member countries are Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda. Less than a month later, the EAC voted to establish a regional military force to address armed groups that have plagued eastern DRC for decades. Kenya and Uganda already have troops fighting rebels in eastern DRC.…