ADF

ADF STAFF China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a sprawling strategic infrastructure program, has been viewed with skepticism since its unveiling in 2013. Through the years, the seeds of doubt have grown as numerous developing countries agreed to billions of dollars in loans that have proven difficult to repay. Evidence of China’s approach is scattered about Africa, as BRI projects have led to local protests and government investigations over opaque loans, crippling debt, and increasing reliance on Chinese products, labor and commercial enterprises. Now, there is growing concern that China could militarize one sector of its BRI assets — ports.…

ADF STAFF Just as the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) was ending its longest and largest outbreak of the Ebola virus in the eastern provinces, another emerged in the northwest in early June. The DRC’s 10th outbreak of the deadly virus began in August 2018 and was eliminated on June 25, 2020. In 23 months, there were 3,470 cases and 2,287 deaths, including 41 healthcare workers. The 11th outbreak was announced on June 1 after a cluster of cases was discovered in and around the Equateur province’s capital city of Mbandaka. To date, the World Health Organization (WHO) has…

ADF STAFF High above the waters off the coast of West Africa, the seabirds trailing a fishing trawler share space with a wedge-shaped drone that also follows the ship. The drone belongs to ATLAN Space, a Moroccan company using technology to keep watch on fishing far from the mainland. ATLAN’s drones replace the small aircraft or coast guard vessels that usually do the monitoring, freeing them for other law enforcement tasks. The artificial intelligence that powers the drone earned ATLAN CEO and co-founder Badr Idrissi a spot among the 10 finalists in the 2017 Innovation Prize for Africa. In 2018,…

ADF STAFF Land mines that killed a United Nations peacekeeper from Rwanda and injured two others in the Central African Republic (CAR) may be linked to the Wagner Group, a Russian mercenary outfit. Days after the July 15 blast, Charles Bambara, communications manager of the U.N. mission in the CAR, accused the insurgent group Return, Reclamation, Rehabilitation (3R) of using the anti-personnel and anti-tank mines against Central African Armed Forces (FACA) and the U.N. Calling for swift justice, U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said the deadly attack “may constitute war crimes under international law.” Members of the CAR military suspect the…

ADF STAFF A young man in a yellow T-shirt strained as he helped pull a fishing net from the Gulf of Guinea. A resident of Sierra Leone, Abu Bakr Aconteh frowned as he surveyed the haul. “We are not happy with this, because it is a small catch,” he told the BBC. Like many fishermen in West Africa, Aconteh blames dwindling fish populations on foreign trawlers, all of which are much larger, more sophisticated vessels than the wooden canoe used by his crew. Roughly three-quarters of the foreign industrial trawlers in Sierra Leone are Chinese. Although much of the locally…

ADF STAFF In the battle against extremists in the Sahel, Niger has spent years directly fighting insurgents. Recently, the military tried a different tactic: building trust with rural young people to prevent them from joining extremists in the first place. That approach inspired members of the Nigerien Armed Forces (FAN), to host a day of songs, skits and other entertainment tailored to in the youth of the agricultural community of Ouallam, about 90 kilometers north of the capital, Niamey. Men and women from four tribes were part of the audience. The goal was to bring together FAN and the local…

ADF STAFF Chinese mining operations have been responsible for environmental damage in the Central African Republic (CAR), devastating the natural resources upon which local communities depend. Occasionally the conflict boils over, pitting villagers against Chinese nationals and the security forces they’ve hired for protection. That’s what happened over several days in late August and early September, prompting regional journalist Alexis Marcelin Yanga to use the term “uprising” in her reporting. “For several months the revolt has been brewing,” she wrote for Corbeau News Centrafrique. Environmental conflict turned into violence August 30 near the mining village of Gaga in the northwestern…

ADF STAFF Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) recently took possession of 23 combat and logistics vehicles in a transfer ceremony with officials from the U.S. government. Maj. Gen. Joseph Kivunzi, head of the Kenya Army’s Western Command, accepted the vehicles on behalf of KDF. The $4.4 million in vehicles included 15 Mack trucks, two Mack tow trucks and eight up-armored Humvees to support KDF combat and logistics operations. The vehicle transfer included training on operations and maintenance. Since 2018, the U.S. has assisted the KDF with over $10 million in equipment and training in support of its mission against al-Shabaab extremists…

ADF STAFF More than 50 years ago, researchers announced a new international fishery in the Gulf of Guinea off the coast of West Africa. “The protein‐hungry world has found a large and enormously rich fishing hole,” The New York Times proclaimed in 1964. Today, the Gulf of Guinea is rife with illegal fishing operations. They compete with legitimate commercial vessels and local small-scale artisans working close to shore. They cross boundaries with impunity, use banned fishing gear, and wreck fragile undersea ecosystems by trawling the bottom. In the process, they are destroying the Gulf’s fish stocks and threatening the livelihoods…

U.S. Africa Command Staff Modern conflicts rarely end with the signing of a treaty or a formal surrender. Some insurgent groups fight until the last gasp, while others hide among civilians. Ethnic tensions can simmer for generations after a war. Disparities over access to power or state resources make a return to violence possible. Peace is fragile, but security forces can adopt strategies that lay the foundation for enduring stability. Many countries have found that the most effective first step after combat is to offer hope to ex-combatants. Programs to disarm, demobilize and reintegrate (DDR) fighters have made a difference…