ADF

ADF STAFF Three members of Guinea’s National Front for the Defense of the Constitution (FNDC) were planning a demonstration against the country’s military junta when soldiers dressed as civilians arrived in armored vehicles and arrested them on July 9. The young men, Mamadou Billo Bah, Mohammed Cissé and Oumar Sylla, were taken to a jail on the island of Kissa. “There was a gendarme who gave me a slap and another one gave me a violent blow with his foot,” Cissé told Guinea’s FNDC TV. Cissé said the soldiers hit them in the face with metal bars and asked who…

ADF STAFF With almost half of all United Nations peacekeeping operations located in Africa, the continent has been the site of many successes, challenges and hard-earned lessons. In order to share some of these lessons, 10 senior leaders collaborated on a newly published book, “Military Diplomacy: The Experience and Leadership of Former United Nations Force Commanders in the Service of Peace.” With an eye on advancing Africa’s regional security architecture, former U.N. force commanders shared their experiences and takeaways in a panel discussion hosted by the Africa Center for Strategic Studies (ACSS) and the Swedish Defense University on October 22.…

ADF STAFF South Africa’s Navy, once the continent’s most powerful, is now struggling after years of financial belt-tightening forced it to forego needed maintenance and recruitment. The Navy’s recorded sea hours have dropped by more than 75% since 2018, reaching just over 2,700 hours this year. The underfunded service has a staffing shortfall of 3,000 people on a planned operational staff of more than 9,500. The Navy was forced to cancel a mission circumnavigating the African continent when its lead vessel, the SAS Amatola, was found unfit to sail. Once Sub-Saharan Africa’s most powerful Navy, South Africa’s Navy can now…

ADF STAFF Neighboring countries Somalia and Ethiopia are trying to put an end to violence that has affected the Horn of Africa for decades. Some experts believe the healing must begin at the community level and spread from person to person. There are grassroots efforts to institutionalize transitional justice and reconciliation (TJ&R) in the region to end the cycle of tragedy by acknowledging past wrongs and addressing deeply rooted grievances. “Transitional justice can help to transform a society by addressing historical injustices, fostering inclusivity and promoting a culture of human rights,” Patience Chiradza, African Union director for Governance and Conflict…

ADF STAFF Public health officials say Rwanda’s response to its recent Marburg virus outbreak demonstrates the benefit of preparedness and quick response. Rwanda’s outbreak, which began in late September, is the latest surge of the virus after episodes last year in Equatorial Guinea and Tanzania that killed 17 people. Rwanda’s first Marburg virus epidemic left more than 60 people infected and 15 dead across 30 districts of the country. However, Rwanda has one of Africa’s strongest health care systems and public health officials have been planning for a Marburg-type viral event since 2018. At the same time, Rwanda is benefitting…

ADF STAFF New data is shedding light on how Burkina Faso’s security has deteriorated in the two years since the military took power in a coup. Burkina Faso is now the most terrorism-affected country in the world, according to the Global Terrorism Index. The United Nations has reported that more than 20,000 Burkinabe have died and more than 3 million people forced from their homes since the country’s insurgency began in 2015. Last year, more than half of the deaths due to militant Islamist violence in the Sahel occurred in Burkina Faso, according to the Africa Center for Strategic Studies.…

ADF STAFF The Sahel region has emerged as a new drug trafficking epicenter in recent years. According to a United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) report, authorities seized 41 kilograms of cocaine in 2021. The number spiked to 1,466 kilograms the next year — an increase of 3,476%. Annual estimates are not available for 2023, but 2.3 metric tons of cocaine had already been seized in Mauritania by June last year, and the trend of large drug busts has continued. In April 2024, Senegalese authorities seized more than a metric ton of cocaine worth nearly $150 million from…

ADF STAFF The chaos that has engulfed Sudan since war broke out in April 2023 could make the country a nexus for terrorism that connects violent extremists in the Sahel with terror groups in Somalia and even Yemen, observers say. “I really feel quite frightened about this,” Abdalla Hamdok, Sudan’s former prime minister, told the Financial Times. “With Sudan bordering seven countries, it will become fertile ground for terrorism in a region that is very fragile.” Hamdok said a return to civilian rule is the best way to prevent terrorism from taking root in Sudan. After he took the reins…

ADF STAFF The flow of arms into Sub-Saharan Africa is declining, and the role of longtime suppliers such as Russia and China has diminished as other actors enter the mix. The Italian Institute for International Political Studies (ISPI) recently published a series of reports on this complex trend, based on data compiled by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). The overall decline is due in part to economic constraints, changes in relations between Sub-Saharan countries and other nations, and supply chain issues related to Russia’s war with Ukraine. Between 2014 and 2018, Russia and China were the largest exporters…

ADF STAFF After forming alliances with military-led juntas in the Sahel, Russia might be moving its influence campaign south by supporting social unrest in Nigeria. During a 10-day August protest demanding better governance, some demonstrators in the northwestern city of Kano suddenly produced Russian flags and called on Russia to pressure the federal government for regime change. Authorities arrested 90 people for waving or making Russian flags. Nigerian Chief of Defense Gen. Christopher Musa told reporters the government would not accept citizens flying foreign flags. “We will not accept anyone pushing for a change of government,” Musa said. Injecting Russian…