ADF

ADF STAFF Ethiopia is awash in ethnic violence. At a time when the prospect of peace talks to end the bloody civil war between the federal government and the Tigray region in the north is materializing, age-old wounds have blasted open in the west. “Well before the conflict [with Tigray] in northern Ethiopia, there has been widespread impunity for ongoing rights abuses in Ethiopia’s Oromia region, including in areas already suffering from conflict,” international organization Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a July 4 report. “Many of these abuses still persist and require urgent international attention.” Two massacres in late…

ADF STAFF Checkpoints line the road between Tanguieta and Porga in northern Benin as Soldiers in armored vehicles patrol the region for terrorist activity. This normally quiet corner of West Africa has seen four terrorist attacks since December by Mali-based Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM), an extremist group linked to al-Qaida. “We used to live a quiet life,” Mounou Y’Moussa, the imam of the central mosque in Porga, told the German news agency DW.com. “Today, it’s all about uncertainty and insecurity.” Porga is a border town near the Point Triple where Benin, Togo, and Burkina Faso meet. Attacks there in…

ADF STAFF Artisanal fishermen in East Africa have relied on sea cucumbers for food and income for generations. Now, the leathery, pickle-shaped species is overfished in many parts of the region, including Kenya, Madagascar, Mozambique, Seychelles and Zanzibar. The species is increasingly smuggled to China and Hong Kong where it is considered a delicacy and often used in traditional Chinese medicine. “The illegal trade in sea cucumbers is mainly a result of illegal fishing operations in source countries, or they have been traded under the declaration of other species, or they have not been declared and were smuggled with other…

ADF STAFF Sudanese miners are blaming Russia’s infamous Wagner Group mercenaries for massacres along the porous border between South Darfur state and the Central African Republic (CAR). Witnesses say the Wagner Group,  with close ties to the Kremlin, has fought to loot the region’s rich gold mines in recent months, as Russian mercenaries killed scores of miners in at least three major attacks. Two Sudanese miners who survived attacks in March by Wagner mercenaries said they were detained for days and tortured. “There are multinational fighters with the Russian security company,” one of the witnesses told news website Middle East…

ADF STAFF Feeling pressure to make money, Dayo Sadiq decided to migrate from her home in Benin City, Nigeria, to Mali. She had been promised a job making up to $360 a month to clean houses. Like many other Nigerian women from Edo State, Dayo (who used a pseudonym) was deceived by a fake job offer from an acquaintance she met at the market. When she arrived at the outskirts of the Malian capital, Bamako, she was taken to a sex workers house guarded by armed men. “Men would come in to choose girls as a sex partner or they…

ADF STAFF A Chinese fishing company with a five-year right to fish for shrimp in Madagascar has kept its boats idle this year as they do not have licenses to trawl. The company, Mada Fishery, has a dubious history. Three of its eight boats in Madagascar previously were caught violating fishing laws in West Africa, according to the Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF). “As recently as November 4, 2020, the vessels were intercepted by the Gambian Navy, Gambian Department of Fisheries and Sea Shepherd,” Steve Trent, chief executive officer of EJF, told Mongabay. “The trawlers were found to have been fishing…

ADF STAFF Mozambique’s restive northeastern province is abuzz with action. Despite recent losses, violent insurgents continue to attack villages and residents, while thousands of security forces fight to secure towns in order to welcome back displaced citizens and restore budding hopes of normalcy. At the same time, the government, international organizations, donor countries and a regional bloc working to stabilize southern Africa are debating and forming plans to rebuild the province. The number of moving parts, like the rebuilding challenge itself, is overwhelming. “In a beehive you have 40,000 bees, and each bee knows exactly what they’re doing,” independent South…

ADF STAFF Thousands of Malians are fleeing to the Mbera refugee camp in southern Mauritania to escape escalating violence in central Mali that they say is being driven by mercenaries associated with Russia’s Wagner Group. Wagner Group mercenaries arrived in Mali in December 2021, invited by the ruling junta to train the Malian military. Since then, Wagner forces have taken part in military actions in the central part of the country, looting markets and killing civilians indiscriminately as the Malian military confronts jihadists operating around Timbuktu. Since the arrival of the Wagner Group, the military’s actions have become more violent…

ADF STAFF Cameroonian citizens are pushing back against what they say are false promises of an economic windfall coming from Chinese investors. Several hundred people in the small coastal town of Lolabé protested on May 23 a recently announced government agreement giving iron ore mining rights to the subsidiary of a Chinese state-owned company called Sinosteel. The demonstration brought controversy and fresh scrutiny to the deal, as locals say these contracts do little to help the community and could be awarded to Cameroonian businesses. “Financially, this is an economic crime, a real incitement to revolt, a mafia trick,” politician Jean Michel…

ADF STAFF Some call cattle rustling one of the oldest crimes in human history. In Africa, cattle rustling dates back centuries and once was considered a cultural practice, sanctioned and organized by tribal elders and traditional leaders. Today, it has become a major security issue across the continent. “We have tried to criminalize this activity,” Kenyan member of Parliament Mark Lomunokol told KTN News network. “It is not supported anywhere by law, so it is a practice we will fight day and night to ensure that it’s eradicated forever.” In recent years, livestock-related crime has grown in size and violence,…