ADF

ADF STAFF One of the world’s largest maritime exercises included Djibouti in October and November 2019, providing training for African naval and coast guard forces intent on maintaining freedom of the seas.   The naval drills occupied the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea as part of United States Central Command’s International Maritime Exercise (IMX 19), which attracted 5,000 participants from about 50 nations. IMX coincided with Cutlass Express 19.2, an exercise conducted by U.S. Africa Command and U.S. Naval Forces Africa.  The dual exercises, which drew participants from Djibouti, Egypt, Kenya and other countries, demonstrated global cooperation in…

ADF STAFF When legendary Moroccan traveler Ibn Battuta made his way into what is now Somalia between 1330 and 1332, he took note of the extraordinary woven cloth he found in the Horn of Africa. In those days, Somalia was a major player in trade, due largely to its fortuitous position on the Indian Ocean. Its port was equal distances from Baghdad, Cairo and India. Cotton fields were common in Somalia’s Jubaland Plain, allowing Somalis to produce more than 350,000 textiles a year, according to Somalispot.com. The traditional weaving techniques and the vibrant colors that enliven the fabrics persisted for centuries.…

ADF STAFF On an August day in the Malian village of Gossi, a group gathered to mark the opening of a new building for the local women’s association. The humble clay structure was a rare bright spot for the desert town of about 8,000 that has been beset by years of violence. “After the dark hours lived through by the people of Gossi, we congratulate these women for their approach,” said Lt. Yacouba of the Malian National Guard during the ceremony. The women’s association, which has about 250 members, had been a pillar of stability in the town. Before the…

ADF STAFF | Photos by Reuters If any country should know about the disarmament, demobilization and reintegration of enemy fighters, it would be Uganda with its experience with the Lord’s Resistance Army. Joseph Kony’s Lord’s Resistance Army, or LRA, is mostly inactive today, but during its violent years, dating to 1987, it wreaked havoc on Uganda. The group killed 100,000 people and displaced another 1.7 million. Kony and his fighters kidnapped tens of thousands of children, turning them into hardened fighters and rebel “wives.” His child combatants were taught to rape, torture and massacre. Fighters who have escaped from the…

ADF STAFF The proliferation of armed groups in Africa’s second-largest country has destabilized the nation for decades, but an incident in December 2017 brought renewed attention to the dangers present in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The Allied Democratic Forces attacked United Nations personnel in the eastern DRC’s North Kivu province, killing 15 peacekeepers and at least five members of the national military and wounding another 53 peacekeepers. The three-hour firefight destroyed at least one armored personnel carrier, U.N. officials told The Washington Post. “This is the worst attack on U.N. peacekeepers in the organization’s recent history,” Secretary-General…

Long-serving dictators have many tricks to help them hold onto power. One is a process known as “coup-proofing,” or building armed forces that will not rebel. Political scientist Philip Roessler said leaders attempt to coup-proof a regime in three ways: Purge the military ranks of any members who might oppose the leader.  Give preferential financial and political treatment to top military commanders.  Employ a tactic known as “ethnic stacking.” In ethnic stacking, the leader of a country fills his top military ranks with officers of his own ethnicity. Ethnic stacking can help a leader stay in power, but it almost…

ADF STAFF  |  Photos by TECH. SGT. ASHLEY NICOLE TAYLOR/U.S. AIR FORCE The United States has sold six MD 530F helicopters to the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) that can engage in attack, scout and close air support missions for the East African nation. “This demonstrates how the U.S. remains fully committed to providing relevant and timely training and equipment to bolster the KDF capabilities,” said U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Michael D. Turello, commanding general of Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa. The U.S. delivered the six MD 530F Cayuse Warrior helicopters to the Kenya Army’s Joint Helicopter Command at Embakasi…

VOICE OF AMERICA In Africa, hundreds of indigenous languages are on the verge of extinction. That includes at least 13 languages in Kenya. Kenyan civil society groups are proposing a bill to help preserve and safeguard these disappearing dialects. Leriman Letiko, who is 102, is passing down knowledge of a culture and a dialect that might be near its end. Letiko and his 95-year-old brother, Leteiyon, are the only two left in a tribe of about 10,000 who can speak fluent Yakunte. The United Nations culture organization UNESCO classifies the Yakunte language as extinct, but the Yaaku, an indigenous tribe…

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE Talal Afifi has worked for years to revive Sudanese cinema, which languished through three decades of authoritarian rule. With the fall of longtime autocrat Omar al-Bashir, he sees new hope.  When Afifi attended a 2008 short film festival in Munich, Germany, the winning film — an Iraqi documentary shot on a handycam — inspired him to return home and set up a training center and production house.  “I wanted to remind people that there is a place called Sudan, which was once renowned in the field of cinema, and that it still has its heart beating for this…

BBC NEWS AT BBC.CO.UK/NEWS Supporters of Tunisia’s Club Africain donated more than $450,000 in one day as they battled to save the financially troubled club. The donors included one blind fan who chose to forgo the medicine he had been saving for in order to help his beloved team. Club Africain, which is Tunisia’s second-oldest football club and one of the best-known teams in Africa, has been deducted six points and sanctioned financially because of unpaid salaries to former players. To help the club, which was established in 1920, the Tunisian Football Federation set up a crisis management committee to…