ADF

ADF STAFF There was a thunderous blast, flames shot into the sky and a dark cloud of smoke formed over a tree line near a military base in Equatorial Guinea. Then came another explosion. And another. Swarms of people ran in fear. Others didn’t have the chance. Jesus Nguema’s family was among the fortunate. A shock wave caused a fire that razed the apartment building where his seven children were staying. Nguema told Reuters he waited 12 agonizing hours before he learned that they had survived. “By some miracle, my children were able to get out of the furnace and save…

U.S. Africa Command Staff As COVID-19 swept the globe in 2020, security professionals were called on to perform new duties. They enforced quarantines, patrolled streets, guarded hospitals and transported lifesaving medical gear. While much of the world went into lockdown, Soldiers stepped up.  And although the pandemic ignited a sense of shared purpose and a willingness to sacrifice, some have tried to take advantage of it.  Traffickers, pirates, poachers and other criminals saw an opportunity to operate more freely while the attention of the world was elsewhere. In some of the most reprehensible cases, traffickers tried to profit by manufacturing…

Tijjani Muhammad Bande of Nigeria, president of the 74th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, spoke May 20, 2020, as part of the Africa Dialogue Series on “COVID-19 and Silencing the Guns in Africa: Challenges and Opportunities.” His comments have been edited to fit this format. COVID-19 has brought such disruption as never experienced since the creation of the United Nations. I extend my deepest sympathies to those who have lost loved ones due to COVID-19 and wish those battling the virus a fast and full recovery. The challenges posed by this disease are multidimensional and can only be effectively tackled by…

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE As COVID-19 closed businesses around the world and forced billions to stay home, Nigerian director Obi Emelonye came up with an innovative way to keep filming.  Inspired by his wife’s teleconferencing calls from their isolation in Britain, he wrote and put together a short feature about a couple separated between London and Lagos. There was just one day for rehearsals and two for filming. The actors recorded scenes on mobile phones in their homes on two continents.   “I wanted to show young people that despite the countless difficulties of our profession, despite the coronavirus, you can make…

THOMSON REUTERS FOUNDATION To deal with drier conditions, Zambian farmer Pamela Nyirenda in 2019 shifted to growing drought-hardy cassava, among other new water-sipping crops such as groundnuts and cowpeas. But in 2020 her cassava field has brought not just a secure harvest but also a financial windfall, as buyers snap up the tubers to produce ethanol for alcohol-based hand sanitizer. As the COVID-19 pandemic hits Africa, cassava flour in Zambia is selling for up to 5,000 kwacha ($270) a metric ton, a steep increase above the same time in 2019, according to the Zambia National Farmers Union. “This is my…

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE Senegalese engineering students are throwing themselves at the COVID-19 problem with inventions such as automatic sanitizer dispensers and medical robots. Young innovators from a top engineering school in the capital, Dakar, have turned their technical skills toward easing pressure on the wards, and they are already in talks with hospitals over some of their new products.  One example is a small robot, dubbed “Dr. Car,” which will measure patients’ blood pressure and temperature, according to students from Dakar’s Ecole Superieure Polytechnique. The university is one of West Africa’s best for engineering and technology, and is highly selective, with…

ADF STAFF The movie version of organized crime typically depicts heavily armed Latin American drug cartels or Italian Mafia groups that run extortion rackets.  True organized crime is more sophisticated, diverse and widespread than any popular media or cultural stereotype. Criminals operate in different ways, large and small, with disparate interests in a variety of arenas.  This is equally true in Africa, and the continent has gotten increased attention from the global community regarding the full range of crimes favored by organized criminal networks. From poaching to human trafficking, drug smuggling to maritime crime, Africa displays an array of organized…

Dr. Tarek A. Sharif was appointed executive director of the African Union Mechanism for Police Cooperation (AFRIPOL) in May 2017. Before that he served as head of the Defence and Security Division in the Peace and Security Department of the African Union Commission in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from 2010 to 2017. He also served as senior policy officer in the African Union office in Lilongwe, Malawi, from 2006 to 2009. Before joining the African Union, Sharif was a lecturer at American University in Madrid from 2004 to 2006. He also was head of the International Cooperation Division of the Islamic…

ADF STAFF Illegal fishing in West Africa has decimated marine life, threatened food security and left artisanal fishermen impoverished. The Confederation Africaine des Organisations Professionnelles de la Pêche Artisanale, or the African Confederation of Professional Organizations of Artisanal Fisheries (CAOPA), is working to change that. Established in 2010, the Senegal-based group is composed of 26 organizations from the region and around the continent, including those in Chad, Madagascar, Morocco, South Africa and Tunisia. The organization pushes for policies that combat illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, support sustainable fisheries, and instill greater transparency in fishing sectors. In January, CAOPA President Gaoussou Gueye repeated…

ADF STAFF When Cmdr. Prince Boateng, a Ghana native, returned home in March, he wore a U.S. Navy uniform. He was part of Obangame Express 2021 (OE21), a 13-day maritime security exercise sponsored by U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) and conducted by U.S. Naval Forces Europe-Africa. It included participation from 31 nations, 20 of which were African. Boateng, a reserve in the U.S. Naval Forces Europe-Africa/U.S. 6th Fleet, understood firsthand the importance of the exercise hosted by the Ghana Navy. “We’re here to help the Ghanaian Navy and the navies in the Gulf of Guinea to work together to help them protect…