ADF

ADF STAFF Shaky cellphone videos captured the scene of a lone terrorist engaged in a shootout with police on the streets of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, in late August. Walking in the afternoon sun, the man held an assault rifle in his hands with a second rifle hanging around his neck. He killed three police officers and a security guard before being shot dead by police at the gates of the French Embassy. Tanzanian Inspector General of Police Simon Sirro speculated on the attacker’s motive, suggesting it could be related to the Islamist insurgency in neighboring Mozambique, where Tanzania sent…

ADF STAFF Nigerien forces recently received special training in river-based patrolling on the Niger River. The training by a mobile team from the U.S. Naval Small Craft Instruction & Technical Training School (NAVSCIATTS)was designed to build a force of Niger-based instructors who could train future troops in patrol techniques. “The training was very important to us because our unit is the first of that kind in our country’s history,” Lt. Abdoul Rachid Amadou Abdou of the Nigerien Special Operations Forces Amphibious Company told ADF. “It taught us many skills we needed.” Those participating in the September training on the Niger…

ADF STAFF Armed members of the Nigerian Navy were crouched on the deck of a warship, their eyes locked on a target. A helicopter whirred overhead, and drones were ready to fly. Nearby, an attack boat sped toward a vessel in Nigeria’s Apapa port. In Nigerian waters and around the Gulf of Guinea, piracy, illegal fishing and other sea crimes are rising, threatening lives, food security and international trade. To increase the country’s maritime security capabilities, members of Nigeria’s Navy recently participated in a four-week maritime security training exercise conducted by the U.S. Coast Guard. The training, sponsored by U.S.…

ADF STAFF Tanzanian authorities are focused on eliminating illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing and stimulating the country’s “blue economy,” which includes the country’s fisheries, tourism and aquaculture. Tanzanian Livestock and Fisheries Minister Mashimba Ndaki said officials are determined to tighten current fishing industry regulations. “Unfortunately, there are still dishonest and greedy fishermen in the country who are helping aliens to smuggle fish and other products outside the country, as well as engaging in fishing using prohibited fishing gear,” Ndaki told Tanzanian newspaper Daily News. In Kenya, Mozambique and Tanzania, the use of driftnets — banned 30 years ago by…

ADF STAFF A Russian-language tablet computer discovered in an area south of Tripoli gives clues to the scale and scope of the Wagner Group’s mercenary operation in Libya. The tablet was discovered after troops loyal to Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar were driven back from their attempt to capture the national capital. It was just one part of the evidence which included Russian-made land mines and Russian-language reading material revealing the involvement of Russian mercenaries in that fight. A BBC investigation of the tablet and its contents found data showing the locations of forces on both sides of the front line…

ADF STAFF The kidnappers wore masks and fired guns randomly while blocking the Kaduna-Abuja road, a major highway in Nigeria, on the afternoon of September 14. In what has become an all-too-familiar scene in a country wracked with insecurity, two people were injured and several more were taken hostage from their vehicles, according to police. Among them was Emir Alhaji Hassan Atto of Bungudu in Zamfara State. People reacted with outrage. The breaking news screamed across headlines. Nigeria’s Vanguard newspaper wrote: “No one is safe anymore.” What Nigerians call “bandits” have turned kidnapping for ransom into a lucrative business and…

ADF STAFF In recent years, the uses for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), also known as drones, have multiplied across Africa. Drones have been used to fertilize crops, monitor wildlife and deliver medicine to hard-to-reach places. Drone technology has grown rapidly worldwide and is projected to be a $43 billion global industry by 2024. In many ways, Africa has become the proving ground for drone technology. South Africa is the continent’s biggest market for drones, employing them in mining, security and agriculture, among other uses. Ghana, Kenya and Rwanda are increasingly important players in drone technology. Until recently, UAVs were almost…

ADF STAFF Emmanuel Essien has been missing since July 2019. Essien, a 28-year-old Ghanaian fisheries observer, was working on board the Chinese trawler Meng Xin 15 when he captured video of the crew engaging in saiko, a practice in which a catch is transferred from a trawler to a large canoe. The illegal catch then is sold to local communities for profit, but authorities are unable to trace the origin of the fish. Two weeks after Essien took the video and made a report to local authorities, he disappeared from his cabin on the Meng Xin 15. According to the…

ADF STAFF Extremist groups in the Sahel are eyeing gold mines as a way to pay for weapons, vehicles and other equipment required to launch deadly attacks. Burkina Faso, the fastest-growing gold producer on the continent, has found itself in the crosshairs as extremist groups fight to gain control of small-scale artisanal mines in the country’s northeast. “The terrorists hear that this site or that one is thriving with gold, and then they target those sites –– they can kill everyone or they take control and take taxes,” Kibsa Ouedraogo, a traditional chief of the village of Noaka, told Financial…

ADF STAFF It was 2 a.m. on Saturday, June 5, 2021, when the calm of night in the village of Solhan, Burkina Faso, was interrupted by the sound of motorcycles, then gunshots. Terrorists opened fire on residents of the gold-mining community, burned homes and markets, and carried out executions until dawn. Local authorities reported a death toll of at least 160 — the deadliest attack since violence spilled into the country in 2015. The most disturbing detail of the attack was revealed weeks later by government spokesman Ousseni Tamboura. “The attackers were mostly children between the ages of 12 and…