ADF

ADF STAFF Violence continues to plague the Ituri province in the northeastern region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), as a wave of deadly attacks in July has been attributed to the Cooperative for the Development of the Congo (CODECO) militia. The Congolese Army (FARDC) launched an offensive in January against Ituri militias as part of a wider operation that began in October 2019. Since then, militants have killed hundreds of civilians, many in acts that “may amount to crimes against humanity,” the United Nations said in a May report. Gunmen attacked two vehicles in the village of…

ADF STAFF As troops loyal to Libyan Gen. Khalifa Haftar retreated from the southern outskirts of Tripoli recently, they left behind booby-trapped land mines to maim and kill returning residents. Many of the mines were Russian- or Soviet-made — the calling card of the Kremlin-backed mercenaries known as the Wagner Group. U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) recently announced it has photographic proof of the Wagner Group’s role in mining the Tripoli neighborhoods as part of Russia’s support for Haftar’s side in the ongoing civil war. Haftar’s militia, known as the Libyan National Army (LNA), along with the eastern-based House of Representatives…

ADF STAFF The U.S. helped Chad’s fight against extremists in the Lake Chad region by donating $8.5 million in materiel to the country’s Special Anti-Terrorism Group (SATG), which is fighting alongside troops from neighboring countries as part of the G5 Sahel Joint Force. Along with Chad, the 5,000-person G5 Sahel Joint Force is made up of troops from Burkina Faso, Mali, Mauritania and Niger. The force was created in 2017 as a unified response to extremist factions such as Boko Haram, al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb and other insurgent groups that operate across national borders in the thinly populated belt…

ADF STAFF As Zimbabwe battles famine and COVID-19, the U.S. government has pledged $60 million in food aid to the country as it faces a particularly dire “lean season.” The money will go to the World Food Program’s 2020-21 Lean Season Food Assistance program in Zimbabwe. The food shortage is largely due to a drastic drop in corn production that has affected more than 4.3 million Zimbabweans in rural areas and 2.2 million people in urban areas, according to recent studies cited by News24, a news channel. More than 14.4 million people live in Zimbabwe, which borders South Africa to…

ADF STAFF The U.S. Department of Treasury announced new sanctions targeting Yevgeny Prigozhin, a Russian financier with a worldwide reach. The close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin is accused of trying to suppress democratic reform in Sudan in exchange for access to natural resources. Prigozhin heads the Internet Research Agency, which spreads disinformation via social media on behalf of Russian business and political interests. The U.S. government targeted Prigozhin’s physical assets in 2018 over his efforts to influence the 2016 and 2020 U.S. elections. Now targeted are his operations in Sudan, Hong Kong and Thailand. Prigozhin, who served nine…

ADF staff In a retreat from the southern outskirts of Tripoli, militia forces loyal to commander Khalifa Haftar left behind a shadow of death in the form of land mines. Advancing troops serving in Libya’s Government of National Accord (GNA) Army, the United Nations-recognized force, have discovered booby-trapped ordnance lying in wait for residents returning to their homes in the Ain Zara and Salah al-Din neighborhoods of Tripoli. Anti-personnel mines litter spaces where civilians might otherwise expect to feel safe. “Residential homes and streets, children’s toys along with play areas were booby-trapped,” GNA Brig. Ahmed Bayou told Al-Jazeera recently as…

ADF STAFF Somali officials say they’ve identified nearly 200 Iranian fishing crews poaching in Somalia’s territorial waters, threatening the nation’s economic and food security. In a statement, Somalia’s Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources reported it had tracked Iranian fishing boats illegally entering Somalia’s territorial waters between January 2019 and April 2020. “The presence of the Iranian fleets in Somalia waters remains a longstanding concern of the Federal Republic of Somalia,” Fisheries Minister Abdullahi Bidhan said in the statement. “Illegal fishing will not be tolerated by Somalia.” Poaching threatens Somalia’s food security, economic development, sovereignty and maritime ecology. Fish is…

ADF STAFF Terrified residents in Mocimboa da Praia, a small town in Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado province, fled the area in late June amid ongoing clashes between militants and Mozambique’s Defence and Security Forces (FDS). Many people were missing and several feared dead after the violence settled. Although the FDS regained control of the town, attackers still were nearby. “It was about 5 in the afternoon when the attackers came and started burning houses. I ran with my wife, and they shot her; they killed her in front of me,” Jaime Momade, a displaced villager, told Al-Jazeera. “I managed to escape.…

ADF STAFF As Kenya and China square off in court over a $3.2 billion contract to build a railway system, the future of Mombasa Port, one of East Africa’s greatest assets, could be at stake. Kenya’s Court of Appeals has ruled that the contract for the country’s new Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) was illegally bid. Kenya Railways awarded the contract to the China Road and Bridge Corp. after a memorandum of understanding dating to 2011. Three years later, a Kenyan activist and the country’s leading bar association went to court to stop construction on the project, saying the Chinese company…

ADF STAFF Kenya’s Court of Appeals has ruled that a $3.2 billion contract for the country’s new Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) between Mombasa and Nairobi was illegally bid. Kenya Railways awarded the contract to the China Road and Bridge Corp. after a memorandum of understanding dating to 2011. Three years later, Kenyan civic activist Okiya Omtatah and the Law Society of Kenya, the country’s leading bar association, sued to stop construction on the project, saying the Chinese company won the project without going through a proper public bidding process. A court dismissed the case in 2014, and construction went ahead.…