ADF

The future of Rwanda’s military deployment in northern Mozambique is uncertain, as Kigali has tied the continuation of its mission in the insurgency-plagued Cabo Delgado province to securing sustained funding. President Paul Kagame recently warned that Rwandan forces could withdraw as early as May, when the European Union’s financial support is set to end. Rwanda is seeking long-term financial support for continuing counterinsurgency operations in Mozambique. “It’s not that ‘Rwanda could withdraw,’” Foreign Affairs Minister Olivier Nduhungirehe said in a March 14 social media post. “It’s that ‘Rwanda WILL withdraw’ its troops from Mozambique, if sustainable funding is not secured…

Burkina Faso’s military and pro-government forces are accused of killing hundreds of civilians between January 2023 and August 2025, according to a recent report by Human Rights Watch (HRW). Of the 1,837 civilians killed in Burkina Faso during that time, more than 1,200 were slain by the Burkinabe military and allied militias known as the Volunteers for the Defense of the Homeland (VDPs). Both Burkina Faso’s military junta, led by Capt. Ibrahim Traoré, and the VDPs are accused of ethnic cleansing in Fulani communities. One of the deadliest attacks on civilians came on December 14, 2023, when more than 200 Burkinabe…

A security specialist says that the terrorist group al-Shabaab and other extremist organizations are learning to move faster as they refine their efforts to target communities and security forces. Security expert Ibrahim Yanaya told intelligence chiefs from 70 countries at an April 2026 meeting in Kenya that militant groups linked to terrorist movements are changing how they operate, with new pressure points that could affect countries across the region, including Kenya. Yanaya, a deputy project director with the International Crisis Group, said the shift matters because extremist networks have continued to find ways to move faster than security forces, keeping…

Experts are warning that China’s recently launched Global Governance Initiative (GGI) represents a threat to developing nations by promoting authoritarianism through digital surveillance and repression. The adoption of “techno-authoritarianism,” defined as the use of digital information technology by governments to surveil, repress, and manipulate populations, poses significant risks to African nations, primarily by undermining democratic processes, human rights and long-term political stability. Retired Col. DCS Mayal, a former intelligence officer in the Indian Army, noted a severe lack of transparency that pervades China’s governance model, saying that the initiative transforms soft power into “invisible sharp edges.” “GGI strategies cultivate Global…

Moroccan and Spanish authorities on March 25 collaborated to arrest three suspected Islamic State group members: two in Tangier, one on Mallorca, Spain’s largest island. The suspect in Spain is accused of planning a solo attack, while the suspects in Morocco allegedly provided funding and logistical support to fighters linked to the Islamic State group in Somalia (ISSOM) and other IS branches in the Sahel region, the Morocco World News newspaper reported. Analysts say ISSOM, in particular, is keen to expand beyond its base in the country’s autonomous Puntland region through propaganda, online radicalization and recruitment efforts from its Al-Karrar…

In February 2025, Morocco’s Central Bureau of Judicial Investigations arrested 12 men connected to Islamic State-Sahel Province during raids across the country, disrupting a terror plot to bomb financial and tourist sites. The raid turned up Islamic State flags, cash, nail bombs, dynamite, guns and knives. It also uncovered evidence that the plot had been inspired and financed by a member of Islamic State-Sahel Province (ISSP), which seeks to expand beyond its base in the Liptako-Gourma region where Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger meet. In recent years, the central leadership of Islamic State (IS) has shifted its attention and resources…

Two Ugandans recently were killed fighting for Russia in Ukraine, adding to the mounting toll of African casualties in that conflict. The two men, Michael Atuhaire and Ashiraf Damulira, are among nearly 1,500 Africans fighting for Russia, often after being lured to the country with promises of lucrative work or higher education. Many of those recruits have come from Kenya and South Africa. Others have come from Cameroon, Ghana and elsewhere on the continent. Atuhaire and Damulira were identified in an investigation into Russia’s recruiting practices by the Swiss NGO INPACT. The group worked with the Ukrainian project I Want…

Fifteen African countries shut down their citizens’ internet access a total of 36 times in 2025. The shutdowns were often in response to political unrest, national exams or armed conflict, according to a report by internet advocacy groups #KeepItOn Coalition and Access Now. Tanzania led the list, blocking internet access eight times during the year, including a five-day shutdown around elections in late October during which government forces cracked down on protesters, according to the report, titled “Rising Repression Meets Global Resistance.” Internal conflict led the shutdown list for the third year in a row, according to the report. In…

The al-Qaida-affiliated Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin carried out a sweeping coordinated attack on seven military locations in western Mali, including near the borders with Senegal and Mauritania, in mid-2025. The terrorist group, better known as JNIM, was responsible for a surge in attacks at that time across several West African nations, especially Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger. The group has become a major force in regional instability and was used as justification for military coups in the three Sahel countries over the past five years. JNIM is just one of Middle East-based al-Qaida’s terrorist franchises in Africa and elsewhere. The…

In what has been described as a first-of-its-kind operation targeting how crime finances terrorism, authorities working with Interpol and Afripol arrested 83 people across six African countries. Officials designed Operation Catalyst, disclosed in late 2025, to identify and disrupt financial networks connected to terrorism. Interpol made 21 arrests on terrorism-related crimes, 28 arrests for financial fraud and money laundering, 16 for cyber-related scams, and 18 for illegal use of cryptocurrencies. Interpol noted that tracking terrorist financing is a particularly complex task involving crimes such as fraud, kidnapping for ransom, illegal commerce, online scams, Ponzi schemes and misuse of crypto assets. …