ADF

ADF STAFF As the bloody rivalry between two large terror groups continues to destroy countless lives in northeast Nigeria, both sides are experiencing another kind of loss — desertions. In recent months, thousands of fighters from Boko Haram and its rival splinter group, the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), have surrendered to local authorities, weakening the two groups. A report released during an April 7 briefing by the United Nations Security Council’s Counter-Terrorism Committee analyzed the deaths of terrorist leaders that preceded the current wave of defections. “The relatively recent deaths of Abu Musab al-Barnawi of ISWAP, Abubakar Shekau…

ADF STAFF A new study identifies West Africa as one of the world’s most affected regions by labor abuse on vessels involved in illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing. Conducted by the Stanford University Center for Ocean Solutions, the study used anonymous surveys distributed to experts from seafood companies, research institutions and human rights organizations, combined with satellite-based vessel-tracking data curated by Global Fishing Watch, to identify high-risk regions. The Azores, Argentina, the Falklands Islands and Peru were the other top regions, the study showed. “Surveillance on the high seas is innately challenging, so these data provide a critical first…

ADF STAFF A newly created open-source website called “All Eyes on Wagner” tracks the activities of the mercenaries working for Russia’s Wagner Group in Africa and beyond. The site documents Wagner Group human rights abuses based on information from social media, news reports, aerial photos, satellite imagery and other published material. “The project aims at verifying and documenting claims of alleged human rights incidents, economic predation and expansion vectors in countries where Wagner mercenaries are established,” according to the website. The model is similar to one used by bellingcat.com, which uses open source and crowd-sourced research to document war crimes…

U.S. Africa Command Staff Military intervention in politics has left a damaging legacy in Africa. Between 1960 and 2000 there were an average of four coup attempts per year on the continent. In many cases, these armed takeovers were catastrophic for the countries involved. They produced decades of poor governance, insecurity and economic decline.  Fortunately, coups are becoming rarer. There were only two coup attempts per year on average during the past two decades. Most modern coups have failed, and those that have succeeded have been forced to cede power swiftly to civilian governments. But coups persist in certain countries.…

Issimail Chanfi, permanent representative of Comoros to the United Nations, spoke during the Africa Dialogue Series 2021 on May 28, 2021. The U.N.’s Office of the Special Adviser on Africa sponsored the event. The theme of the series was “Cultural identity and ownership: reshaping mindsets.” Chanfi’s comments have been edited to fit this format. During this month of the Africa Dialogue Series we have witnessed that a new narrative is indeed possible if only we give voice to African experts. We have shown the world that Africa is a continent full of innovators who are ready to face emerging challenges…

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE At twilight, tens of thousands of bats darken the skies over Abidjan’s business quarter as they squeak their way between buildings in Côte d’Ivoire’s economic hub. The scene is a feature of the city’s Plateau district. But now a range of human perils threatens the little mammals, conservationists say. As night falls, the bats head for the nearby Banco forest, which was made a national park in 1953. There, the bats gorge all night on insects, fruit and flowers, said Magloire Niamien, a biologist and bat specialist at the University of Korhogo in northern Côte d’Ivoire. Niamien said…

VOICE OF AMERICA Malaria kills more than 400,000 people each year, and most victims are in Africa. Now Target Malaria, an international group of scientists, is working in Burkina Faso on a genetic solution. Abdoulaye Diabate of the country’s Research Institute for Science and Health said Target Malaria hopes to develop a genetic tool to modify mosquitoes so their offspring will be only male. Any females they mate with after release also will produce just males. Since only female mosquitoes spread malaria, the disease should drop off quickly along with their population. In the village of Bana, where the genetically…

Affectionately called the “Baba of Africa” or “Africa’s father,” Olusegun Obasanjo has spent time as a military officer, statesman, peacemaker and human rights advocate. Born in 1937 in southwest Nigeria, he spent more than 20 years in the Armed Forces, rising to the rank of two-star general. He served as Nigeria’s head of state twice, from 1976 to 1979 and again from 1999 to 2007. In 1979, he became the first military ruler in Africa to hand power to a civilian government, and in 2007 he participated in Nigeria’s first peaceful transition of power from one civilian administration to another.…

ADF STAFF Arab Spring protests swept across North Africa and the Middle East in the early 2010s as citizens rose up in the face of years of autocratic rule. The protests produced a range of results, from the lasting chaos in Libya to a flirtation with democratic rule in neighboring Egypt. The Arab Spring’s reach extended into Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen. It lit the fuse that exploded into the bloody Syrian civil war, which persists to this day. But in Tunisia, a nation of 12 million people nestled between Algeria and Libya, things were different. Those differences…

BY DR. HUMPHREY ASAMOAH AGYEKUM Photos by AFP/GETTY IMAGES In Africa, military interventions in politics are an ever-present threat. In recent years, military forces have staged coups in Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, twice in Burkina Faso and twice in Mali. Yet, for nearly four decades Ghana has remained an island of relative stability in West Africa. Members of the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) have been praised for their high level of professionalism and their apolitical nature. This raises the question: How does the GAF manage to avoid involvement in coups? The answer is multifaceted. To understand the newfound professionalism of the Ghanaian military,…