ADF

ADF STAFF Illegal fishing is decimating South Africa’s once-thriving stocks of abalone, rock lobster and other marine species. As in other coastal nations, vessels engaged in illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing in South Africa routinely sail into prohibited waters, catch huge amounts of fish — often with illicit gear — then transfer their catches to large, factory-size vessels farther out at sea. IUU fishing costs the nation billions of rand, harms ecosystems critical to the survival of marine life and leaves artisanal fishermen with empty nets. Illegally caught marine resources in South Africa often are exported to Hong Kong.…

ADF STAFF Africa’s young population can be or a source of instability or a springboard to prosperity. Experts say it’s up to the continent’s security and political leaders to harness this “youth bulge” to create a better future. “We need to ask ourselves, ‘Can Africa seize the opportunities being presented?’ Or do African youth constitute a ticking, demographic time bomb?” said Dr. Joel Amegboh, an assistant professor at the Africa Center for Strategic Studies (ACSS), who researches “youth peace and security.” The term “youth bulge” refers to a demographic pattern in which a large share of the population is composed…

ADF STAFF A growing number of foreign-owned vessels with a history of illegal fishing are flying Cameroon’s red, yellow and green flag. An Associated Press (AP) investigation found that 14 vessels hoisting Cameroonian flags are owned or managed by companies in Belgium, Cyprus, Latvia and Malta. Each vessel switched flags to Cameroon between 2019 and 2021. At least six of the vessels and their owners are known to underreport their catch, fail to declare where it goes and disclose who benefits financially from it. Foreign fishing boats commonly “flag in” to African nations, meaning they use and abuse local rules to flag…

ADF STAFF As terrorism spreads south from the Sahel toward the Gulf of Guinea, Ghana stands out among its neighbors for its lack of attacks. But experts are warning that the country might be living on borrowed time. Professor Emmanuel Kwesi Aning, director of faculty of academic affairs and research at the Ghana-based Kofi Anan International Peacekeeping Training Centre, toured all of Ghana’s border posts as part of a research project on behalf of the United Nations. He found “a dire picture of unpreparedness” in the regions bordering Burkina Faso, which has become a source of terrorism spreading to its…

ADF STAFF In the pale light of dawn on July 22, two vehicles rigged with explosives set off on a deadly attack on Mali’s biggest military base in Kati, just 15 kilometers northwest of the capital of Bamako. Islamist militants entered the camp, burned parked vehicles and stole two Army vehicles. Heavy gunfire was heard for an hour before helicopters circled above the base. Col. Assimi Goïta, the leader of Mali’s military junta who regularly stays at his house on the base, reportedly was whisked away in a convoy heading to Bamako. Never before in the decadelong insurgency by al-Qaida…

ADF STAFF Zamfara State Gov. Bello Matawalle says more than 30,000 bandits are operating across six states in northern Nigeria, including his own. Since the federal government designated armed bandits as terrorists, the use of force against these groups is now part of the country’s military strategy. One of Matawalle’s approaches in Zamfara, thought to be the epicenter of banditry in Nigeria, is to arm civilians. “The crisis defied all forms of solution,” he said in an April 1 news briefing. He directed the state police commissioner to issue 500 gun licenses in each of the 19 emirates in the…

ADF STAFF The recordings posted online in 2020 claimed to be Ghanaian President Nana Afuko-Addo endorsing several notorious conspiracy theories about the COVID-19 pandemic. There was one problem: The recordings were fake. Afuko-Addo’s office quickly rebutted the claims, and others online pointed out that the voice was not the president’s. But soon one recording had been heard more than 400,000 times in Nigeria alone. From the COVID-19 pandemic to local politics, fake news pollutes the flow of information across West Africa, with much of it targeting social media channels and their users. “Those involved do not mean well for the…

ADF STAFF After years of serving in the Senegalese Army, Gen. Mbaye Cissé wants to apply lessons he has learned and see more involvement from the public to deal with insecurity. Cissé, who has been director-general of the Dakar-based Centre des Hautes Etudes en Défense et de Sécurité (CHEDS) since July 2020, was a section commander in the Casamance region, where a conflict has been simmering since 1982. He participated in a recent webinar hosted by the Africa Center for Strategic Studies and CHEDS that focused on the strategic importance of using citizen-focused approaches to address security challenges. Cissé described…

ADF STAFF African nations that join the Joint Analytical Cell (JAC) to counter illegal fishing can harness Skylight, a maritime monitoring tool that tracks fishing vessels in real time and alerts authorities to suspicious behavior. The JAC is a new collaboration of organizations that brings data, technology and analytics to combat illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing. According to the Ocean Science Foundation, African nations lose an estimated $10 billion annually to illegal fishing, which also drives food insecurity. Launched by the Allen Institute for AI, Skylight already helps Gabon’s National Agency for National Parks defend marine protected areas. In…

Dr. Mark Duerksen is a research associate at the Africa Center for Strategic Studies. His research focuses on Nigeria’s security landscapes and Africa’s unparalleled urbanization, along with the security challenges and opportunities that cities present. His projects at the center include tracking security-related news and creating analytic infographics. Africa Defense Forum (ADF) interviewed Duerksen via email. His remarks have been edited to fit this format. ADF: Are Nigeria’s mercenary groups actually working? It seems that many of them become as bad as the organizations they are set up to combat. For instance, a federal judge in Nigeria said the Bakassi…