ADF

Simple, Low-Cost Measures Can Put Militaries on Road to Cyber Security ADF STAFF An employee, spending one of countless days in front of a computer screen, opened an email and clicked on a link. That began the invasion. The worker, a computer technician at Saudi Aramco, a major Saudi Arabian oil company, presumably was well-schooled in the ways of careful computer use. But not, apparently, on August 15, 2012, during the holy month of Ramadan. The clicked link was all that hackers — calling themselves the “Cutting Sword of Justice” — needed to infiltrate one of the richest companies in…

Stopping online propaganda by extremists takes more than just shutting down the messenger ADF STAFF For years, the blueprint for countering extremist propaganda was straightforward: Insist to followers that their beliefs are wrong and that they are suffering as a result. Tell them to abandon their cause and that they will have better lives if they change sides. Repeat the countermessages as often as necessary. The only problem with countermessaging is that it rarely works. Dr. Cristina Archetti, author of “Terrorism, Communication and New Media: Explaining Radicalization in the Digital Age,” says that developers of anti-extremist messaging need to abandon…

REUTERS The“Nigerian Mona Lisa,” a painting lost for more than 40 years and found in a London apartment in 2018, has been exhibited in Nigeria for the first time since it disappeared. Tutu, a painting by Nigeria’s best-known modern artist, Ben Enwonwu, was painted in 1974. It appeared at an art show in Lagos the next year, but its whereabouts after that were unknown, until it resurfaced in north London. The owners, who wished to remain anonymous, had called in an expert in modern and contemporary African art to identify their painting. He recognized Enwonwu’s portrait. The owners put the…

BBC NEWS AT BBC.CO.UK/NEWS Angola won the 2018 Amputee Football World Cup in Mexico, beating Turkey 5-4 in a penalty shootout. The match ended 0-0 after normal time, and the deadlock could not be broken in extra time. The deciding shootout proved just as tense, with both teams scoring from their first four penalties. Amputee football is played with seven competitors on each team — six outfielders and one goalkeeper. Outfielders each have one leg amputation, and goalkeepers have an arm amputation. Outfielders use forearm crutches and play without artificial limbs. Angola, which finished as runner-up at the last World…

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE Nigeria’s Davido won the All Africa Music Awards (AFRIMA) trophy for artist of the year, leading a strong showing for West Africa’s Afrobeats stars. Musicians from across the continent traveled to the Accra International Conference Centre in Ghana’s capital in November 2018 to walk the red carpet and celebrate a year of big hits. Betty G from Ethiopia took home album of the year, and best African DJ went to Afrotronix, who has roots in Chad. Nigerian rapper Falz won the award for best rapper after courting controversy this year when he released This is Nigeria, which skewered…

REUTERS Egypt and Sudan, two countries facing cross-border threats from militias operating in Libya, have agreed to set up joint military patrols along their border. The patrols eventually may lead to joint forces in the border region to “combat terrorism, cross-border crimes, control the border and combat all manifestations of evasion,” Sudanese Chief of Staff Kamal Abdul Maarouf told reporters. He said the two militaries would form a strategic partnership in all fields, especially intelligence and operational cooperation and training. The countries also agreed to joint investments, Abdul Maarouf said, and allowing Egypt to establish agricultural and animal production projects…

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE Senegal has inaugurated a cyber security school that aims to strengthen West Africa’s defense against computer hackers and prevent the internet from being used to fund terror or distribute propaganda. Senegalese Foreign Minister Sidiki Kaba and French counterpart Jean-Yves Le Drian opened the National Cyber Security School on the sidelines of an annual regional security conference in Dakar. The school will train security services, the judiciary and private businesses in combating cyber crime. Backed by France, it will have a “regional vocational role” in helping other West African countries, French officials said. The school, which was proposed at…

BBC NEWS AT BBC.CO.UK/NEWS The United States has re-established a diplomatic presence in Somalia for the first time in nearly 30 years. The Department of State said the historic event reflected the security progress the East African nation has made. Ambassador Donald Yamamoto is heading the diplomatic mission in Mogadishu, which previously had been based in Nairobi. The U.S. closed its embassy in Somalia in January 1991 amid fighting between rebels and the government and had to airlift out its ambassador and staff. Commenting on the latest move, State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said: “Our return demonstrates the United States’…

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE Soldiers who were sent to Lesotho in 2017 after the country’s top Army commander was killed withdrew from the area in November 2018. The Southern African Development Community (SADC), a regional bloc, deployed a force to the landlocked kingdom after an Army commander was shot dead in barracks by officers from a perceived rival faction. The region feared further instability. The seven-nation SADC force, which included 207 military personnel, 15 intelligence officers and 24 police officers, was deployed for six months and extended to a year. The mission was to “strengthen peace and security,” SADC spokeswoman Barbara Lopi…

ADF STAFF Training for Comoran Soldiers and gendarmes can be tough — out of more than 900 people who enrolled in a training class, only 541 completed the course. The training started in 2018 in Itsundzu and was called “Feta 2018.” The class produced 263 Soldiers and 278 gendarmes. Comoran President Azali Assoumani congratulated the recruits at their February 2019 graduation and told them that they had not only learned new technical and tactical skills, but also the rules of being a Soldier, committed to the rule of law and international law. The top five trainees of the gendarmerie and…