ADF

For years, female members of the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) had to wear body armor designed for men. This put them at a disadvantage, sometimes during combat, as the gear did not offer full protection. The GAF on August 20 received $1 million worth of women’s body armor from the United States government. Ghanaian Chief of Army Staff Maj. Gen. Lawrence Gbetanu expressed gratitude for the donation, as the roles and responsibilities of Ghana’s female Soldiers are expanding. “Our women have had to make do with protective gear that did not conform to their physiology,” Gbetanu said in a Modern…

Ghana has adopted a new fisheries act aimed at stemming illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing. Among other new regulations, the Ghanaian government expanded the country’s inshore exclusion zone (IEZ) from 6 to 12 nautical miles from shore. Industrial and large-scale vessels are prohibited from fishing in a country’s IEZ, but trawlers from China and other foreign fishing trawlers routinely invade waters meant for Ghana’s artisanal fishermen. “When the trawlers come close to the area marked solely for our men, they tend to catch a lot of the fish meant for artisanal fishers, and we end up making huge losses,” Regina Solomon,…

When the infamous Russian mercenary Wagner Group announced its departure from Mali earlier this year, it claimed on social media that its “mission was accomplished.” The reality is that in the 3 1/2 years of the counterterrorism and counterinsurgency operations it carried out, the group has had a disastrous impact on the Sahel country that continues to be regarded as the worldwide epicenter of terrorism. “Despite the Wagner Group possessing a reputation for being battle-ready and claiming occasional public triumphs in Mali, its strategy has been plagued by a series of failures,” investigative organization The Sentry wrote in an August…

Faced with a rapidly evolving security threat environment, Morocco is reshaping its intelligence strategy with an eye toward the future. A new report by the R.O.C.K. Institute for Geopolitical and Security Studies examines the rising threat from artificial intelligence and terrorist groups. It recommends a multipronged approach to addressing those threats while also protecting human rights within the kingdom. Morocco’s intelligence agencies face multidimensional threats, according to the report’s author, Kamal Akridiss, who founded the R.O.C.K. Institute in 2024. R.O.C.K. is an English-language acronym for Research, Observation & Critical Knowledge. Those multidimensional threats combine physical, digital, informational and financial dimensions,…

After South African troops withdrew from peacekeeping missions in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), they left behind five Oryx transport helicopters. The helicopters are still there with no deadline for returning them to South Africa. In August, South African National Defence Force (SANDF) authorities disputed reports that the helicopters had been abandoned in the DRC after troops pulled out of the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the DRC (MONUSCO) and the Southern African Development Community’s mission in eastern DRC (SAMIDRC). Four of the helicopters are grounded in Lubumbashi in southern DRC, while the fifth remains at the…

Fury over fishing in The Gambia has reached a fever pitch. Now locals are feuding with foreign industrial trawlers in the country’s waters. The Gambia’s government requires foreign vessels operating offshore to carry a percentage of local crew members, some of whom have been injured when Gambian fishermen attacked foreign trawlers fishing close to shore. Under Gambian law, foreign vessels must fish at least 9 nautical miles out to sea. Kawsu Leigh was one of two Gambian crew members severely burned when angry locals attacked an Egypt-flagged trawler they worked on with burning stones last year. While one local fisherman…

Public anger over a sharp rise in fuel prices in Angola triggered three days of violence, some of which was directed at the country’s large Chinese community. The violence destroyed shops, closed factories and caused thousands of Chinese residents to flee the country. Based on reports, the rioting grew out of protests over the Angolan government’s decision to reduce subsidies on gasoline. The rioting preceded the government’s action in August to shut down 25 illegal Chinese cryptocurrency mining operations and expel 60 Chinese nationals involved in it. Cryptocurrency mining is banned in Angola because of the burden it places on…

A trio of pro-government Burkinabe militias, including the Volunteers for the Defense of the Homeland (VDP), stormed the western city of Solenzo on March 10 and unleashed a deadly two-day attack that killed dozens of civilians. As in many attacks by Burkinabe security forces, their allies and terror groups, children were among the victims. The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) recently issued a report that focused on children and armed conflict in Burkina Faso between July 1, 2022, and June 30, 2024. The UNSC reported 2,483 grave violations affecting 2,255 children, including 1,310 boys, 750 girls and 195 children whose…

Realistic-looking news anchors delivering propaganda, popular television characters singing terrorist battle songs, online chatbots that tailor their responses to a user’s interests — these are all ways terrorist groups are using artificial intelligence (AI) to spread their message and recruit. As AI technologies have spread across the internet, they have become tools that terrorist groups such as the Islamic State group (IS) and al-Qaida use to reach out to young people in Africa and elsewhere who have grown up with the internet and get their information from social media. Cloaking terrorist propaganda in authentic-looking content helps get the messages past…

Up to 55 Malian soldiers, including two generals, were arrested on August 14 and accused of attempting to overthrow Col. Assimi Goïta’s military junta. Among those arrested were Gen. Abass Dembele, former governor of the Mopti region, and Gen. Nema Sagara, one of the highest-ranking female officers in Mali’s Air Force. Dembele was dismissed in May when he demanded an investigation into allegations that the Malian Army had killed civilians in the village of Diafarabe. Sagara was lauded for her role in fighting rebel groups in 2012. Gen. Daoud Aly Mohammedine, Mali’s security minister, said the alleged plot began on…