ADF

ADF STAFF In Madagascar, a webpage in the Malagasy language shows a cartoon of a Russian bear awakening from hibernation to save Africa from hyenas.  In Libya, an Arabic language website hails Saif al-Islam, son of the late dictator Moammar Gadhafi, as the country’s savior.  In the Central African Republic, a site in French celebrates the visit of Miss Russia to the country to judge a beauty pageant.  All of these websites share a characteristic: Russian operatives created them as part of a wide-ranging influence campaign in Africa. In a study by the Stanford Internet Observatory, analysts reviewed 73 Facebook…

Photos by MINUSCA Lt. Gen. Daniel Sidiki Traoré was appointed force commander of MINUSCA in January 2020 after serving as deputy force commander for two years. A native of Burkina Faso, he joined the country’s National Armed Forces in 1977 and served in roles including commander of the 6th Military Region, commander of the 2nd Military Region, head of the Operations Department in the general headquarters, head of the Intelligence Department, head of the Human Resources Department and special advisor to the chief of defense staff. He has served in United Nations peacekeeping missions in the Democratic Republic of the…

ADF STAFF In late 2019, as a fierce battle raged in Libya to save the southern suburbs of Tripoli, medics treating the wounded began to notice something unusual. They were finding bullet holes but no exit wounds.  Instead, what they found in the wounded were hollow-point bullets as long as a finger. Few of the people who were shot survived. The ammunition was a deadly calling card of Russian mercenary snipers who had entered the fight on the side of militias commanded by Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar.  Their motive was profit and, according to Soldiers fighting on behalf of Libya’s…

ADF STAFF Russian mercenaries have been linked to human rights abuses and have tried to profit off the chaos in the Central African Republic (CAR), one of the poorest countries in the world despite vast natural resources. In March 2021, United Nations-appointed independent-rights experts alleged that the CAR’s recruitment and use of “private military and foreign security contractors” from Russia and Sudan were raising the risks of widespread human rights abuses. At the same time, the country’s president was using Russian mercenaries as his personal bodyguards. Russian mercenaries had contacts with some of the 15,000 peacekeepers involved with the U.N.…

ADF STAFF Conflict among oil, gas and mining companies and the people who live nearby is nothing new.  In the Gulf of Guinea, artisanal fishermen follow their catch close to oil platforms, putting them at risk of injury. In West and Southern Africa, small-scale miners compete for deposits with giant multinational companies. Disputes sometimes end in bloodshed. And throughout the world, citizens voice anger that large corporations encroach on their land, pollute it and profit while they receive little in return.   To protect their operations, the extractive industry often turns to private security companies (PSCs). These companies vary widely…

ADF STAFF Through its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), China has placed tens of thousands of workers in Africa to build Chinese-financed BRI infrastructure projects across the continent. Now, in an effort to protect its workers, China is turning to private military contractors (PMCs). Chinese PMCs first appeared in Africa in 2010 to protect Chinese ships from Somali pirates. Since then, Chinese security contractors have become a small but growing presence. At least nine Chinese security companies operate in Sub-Saharan Africa, where dozens of BRI projects produce more than $50 billion in revenue each year for Chinese state-owned companies, according…

ADF STAFF Illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing has overtaken piracy as the primary maritime security threat in African waters. The last year saw unscrupulous industrial trawlers continue using an array of tactics to catch far more fish than allowed, seriously depleting fish stocks. IUU fishing often leads to other crimes, such as drug and weapons smuggling, human trafficking and piracy. The World Trade Organization (WTO) hopes to limit IUU fishing in 2022 when it aims to end harmful fuel subsidies countries pay to finance their distant-water fishing fleets. It may not be easy. WTO negotiations have been ongoing for…

ADF STAFF By all accounts, Africa’s post-pandemic future looks bright because innovation, enthusiasm and technology will support economic growth in 2022. But there is a dark side to that sunny economic future — cybercrime. The continent is home to a youthful, tech-centric population. It has the fastest-growing mobile phone and internet networks in the world and makes the most use of mobile banking services. Unsurprisingly, Africa is witnessing a surge in cyberattacks. It has become a major priority for the African Union Mechanism for Police Cooperation (AFRIPOL), which recently partnered with the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) to warn countries…

BBC NEWS AT BBC.CO.UK/NEWS Having won Senegal’s top prize two years ago, jockey Fallou Diop, 19, hopes to realize his dream of racing on an international stage. Often used for agriculture and transport, horses, donkeys and mules are an integral part of daily life in Senegal. And racing has rapidly grown into a national pastime. “The elders taught us everything since we were young,” Diop says. “And that’s how I became passionate about horses. Since my grandfather, we’ve supported horses, then my father after him.” Diop was 12 when he decided to leave a tailoring apprenticeship and pursue horse racing.…

ADF STAFF How do you pronounce “Gqeberha,” the new name for the South African city of Port Elizabeth? In an effort to rid itself of the last vestiges of colonialism and apartheid, South Africa is renaming some of its towns, cities and airports in the Eastern Cape province. Gqeberha is the Xhosa name for the Baakens River, which flows through the city. Xhosa is one of South Africa’s 11 official languages. It’s also one of the few languages in the world that has a “click” sound, which can be difficult for non-Xhosa speakers to learn, including many South Africans. According…