ADF

ADF STAFF Nigerien Prime Minister Brigi Rafini toured submerged farmlands and neighborhoods with collapsed mud homes in late August after the Niger River overflowed and swamped the capital, Niamey. He was furious to see so many dikes breached after workers had rehabilitated them before the rainy season. “I thought that the capital of Niamey was safe from flooding,” he told local media. After torrential rains led to historic flooding since July, Rafini called on the international community to help in a September meeting with foreign diplomats and international nongovernmental organizations. The United States is answering. After meeting Nigerien President Mahamadou…

ADF STAFF The Methane Princess, a liquified natural gas tanker ship, was docked off Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, on October 17 when pirates attacked. They ignored the cargo and took something more valuable: two crew members. Although piracy has declined globally, it is rising in the Gulf of Guinea. Attacks have grown 40% since the beginning of this year. Unlike the Gulf of Aden, where decades of piracy have forced crews to defend against attacks, ships in the Gulf of Guinea are more lightly armed and less prepared for pirate assaults, Onyekachi Adekoya, managing director of PR24 Security in Nigeria, told…

ADF STAFF From Mauritania to Benin, trawlers’ illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing tactics are drawing scrutiny. Vessels in West African waters sail under flags of convenience and use deception to haul in huge catches that decimate local ecosystems. Chinese vessels are among the worst offenders and recently caused controversy in Senegal. There, a Chinese fishing fleet previously caught illegally fishing in Djibouti, was granted fishing licenses amid lockdown measures to contain COVID-19. Senegal’s Fishing Ministry publicly rejected the applications of 52 trawlers, but pressafrik.com, an online newspaper based in Dakar, reported that the government issued licenses to three fishing…

ADF STAFF Morocco and the U.S. have signed a 10-year deal that will support the nations’ shared military goals. The accord “serves as a road map for defense cooperation and aims to strengthen the strategic partnership between the two countries and support shared security goals,” a statement from the Moroccan Royal Armed Forces said. The deal also aims to improve Morocco’s military readiness as the kingdom combats terrorism, manages a migration crisis, and promotes stability in the Sahel and Mediterranean regions, according to Agence Marocaine de Presse (MAP), Morocco’s state news agency. The two countries reached the agreement in early…

ADF STAFF The fishing nets hauled aboard a Chinese trawler swelled with sardinella, a tiny silver fish that is a source of food and income in Ghana. Some of the catch was dead and thrown overboard, and much of it was transferred from the trawler to a large canoe capable of carrying about 450 times more fish than an artisanal fishing canoe. The Chinese trawler was fishing in an area designated for artisanal fishermen. The transshipment of fish at sea, known as “saiko,” is illegal in Ghana. In 2017, saiko took 100,000 tons of fish from Ghanaian waters, costing the…

ADF STAFF An insurgency in Ghana’s Volta region started in early September with a declaration of sovereignty and a manhunt by regional police for whoever erected makeshift signs reading, “Welcome to Western Togoland.” Since then, the situation has escalated to include spells of violent confrontations and threats of open rebellion. At least two groups are demanding independence for disputed land along Ghana’s eastern border with Togo. Ghana’s government has dismissed the issue as a police matter. “The area today they call Western Togoland must be a figment of their imagination,” Ghanaian Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia said on Asempa radio in…

ADF STAFF In the farming communities of Nigeria’s northeastern Borno State, Boko Haram extremists have spent years raiding farms, stealing livestock and driving farmers off their land. Now, those same farmers can return to their work without fear: The Agro Ranger Squad has their backs. Last year, Nigeria’s Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) launched the program that puts well-trained, armed escorts into the fields to watch over farmers as they work. The rangers also patrol the broader region around Bama and other communities on the lookout for Boko Haram fighters. The group travels the area between strongholds in the…

ADF STAFF The Chinese government recently imposed a strict 10-year fishing ban on the 6,300-kilometer-long Yangtze River to preserve native fish populations. The move was made in response to a significant drop in China’s domestic fish catch, which went from 7.65 million tons in 2017 to 6.82 million tons in 2019. For several years, China has aggressively policed its waters. In 2017, it impounded 7,000 vessels, seized 400,000 nets and recorded 10,343 arrests on fishing-related charges in 2017, according to a SeafoodSource report. China’s hard-nosed approach to illegal domestic fishing stands in contrast to its distant-water fishing fleets in Africa,…

ADF STAFF The Sahel in Africa, one of the world’s most fragile regions, is experiencing a confluence of deadly crises, as terrorism recently has been coupled with historic flooding. Months of steady and torrential rainfall have led two key rivers — the Niger and the Nile —  and several dams to overflow. In a region already plagued by food insecurity and displacement due to violence, millions have seen homes and farms destroyed by floods, making food and other resources even more prone to stockpiling by armed groups. “This level of destruction as a result of a natural disaster is unprecedented…

ADF STAFF Mauritanians are demanding justice after artisanal fishermen died when their boat was struck by a large Chinese trawler. The early September incident occurred in Atlantic waters off the port city of Nouadhibou. Three of the six fishermen aboard the Mauritanian boat were killed and the captain of the Chinese vessel was detained, according to local news reports. Days later, hundreds of local fishermen joined family members of the dead fishermen in calling for Mauritanian leaders to expel foreign trawlers — including those from China, Russia and Turkey — from Mauritanian waters and to provide better protection of artisanal…