ADF

ADF STAFF In the black of night, the Sam Simon, a vessel in the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society fleet, silently drifted toward a boat illegally fishing in waters off The Gambia. Waving from the trawler’s mast was a vintage Chinese flag. Aboard the Sam Simon were armed members of the Gambian Navy and law enforcement agents with the country’s fisheries department who identified themselves before climbing onto the Chinese boat. The joint operation, known as Operation Gambian Coastal Defense, resulted in nine arrests on charges of illegal fishing and related crimes. “It’s a problem. The industrial (trawlers) are sophisticated,” Ammadou…

ADF STAFF Members of the Nigerien Armed Forces recently participated in discussion groups with U.S. Soldiers designed to promote mutual understanding on security issues and improve language skills. The course took place at the École de Formation des Officiers des Forces Armées Nigériennes (EFOFAN), a two-year officer-training school in Niamey. The latest group of students graduated on August 5. In addition to sessions on civil-military cooperation, the class agenda included information about the spread of COVID-19 and the need for officers to ensure that troops under their command take precautions to avoid the potentially fatal respiratory disease. The EFOFAN courses…

ADF STAFF Lamin Sanyang has had enough. A commercial fisherman in The Gambia, he is frustrated to the point of quitting the trade over Chinese interference in the country’s waters. Whenever he and his crew put out nets, he said, Chinese trawlers cut them while fishing illegally. Other local crews say foreign trawlers attack their boats when they check their nets. “It has been happening several times we have [gone] fishing and coming back with empty hand[s],” Sanyang told the Gambian newspaper The Voice. Fish seller Fatoumata Conteh said problems with Chinese trawlers have gotten worse recently, despite the government’s recent…

ADF STAFF Wearing an olive uniform blending into the verdant, thick brush, Ruth Sikeita raises her binoculars to observe a pack of zebras during a daily wildlife patrol. The way she sees it, working as one of eight rangers in the International Fund for Animal Welfare’s (IFAW’s) Team Lioness patrol unit is a win-win-win. “I look after wild animals, providing security for the wildlife, ensuring that they are safe,” she told IFAW.org. “It’s important because animals are like us. They need to be safe like us. They benefit us; tourists visit here because of the wild animals, and we are…

ADF STAFF An enormous trove of counterfeit Libyan dinars intercepted this spring in Malta was printed in Russia and bound for forces loyal to military leader Gen. Khalil Haftar, U.S. and Libyan officials said. The shipment of $1.1 billion in dinars has been held in Malta ever since. Russia denies they are illegitimate, arguing that Libya has two central banks. The international community recognizes the central bank in Tripoli as the country’s legitimate financial authority. According to the U.S. State Department, the bank notes were printed to worsen economic conditions in Libya by causing inflation. “This incident once again highlights…

ADF STAFF Violence continues to plague the Ituri province in the northeastern region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), as a wave of deadly attacks in July has been attributed to the Cooperative for the Development of the Congo (CODECO) militia. The Congolese Army (FARDC) launched an offensive in January against Ituri militias as part of a wider operation that began in October 2019. Since then, militants have killed hundreds of civilians, many in acts that “may amount to crimes against humanity,” the United Nations said in a May report. Gunmen attacked two vehicles in the village of…

ADF STAFF As troops loyal to Libyan Gen. Khalifa Haftar retreated from the southern outskirts of Tripoli recently, they left behind booby-trapped land mines to maim and kill returning residents. Many of the mines were Russian- or Soviet-made — the calling card of the Kremlin-backed mercenaries known as the Wagner Group. U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) recently announced it has photographic proof of the Wagner Group’s role in mining the Tripoli neighborhoods as part of Russia’s support for Haftar’s side in the ongoing civil war. Haftar’s militia, known as the Libyan National Army (LNA), along with the eastern-based House of Representatives…

ADF STAFF The U.S. helped Chad’s fight against extremists in the Lake Chad region by donating $8.5 million in materiel to the country’s Special Anti-Terrorism Group (SATG), which is fighting alongside troops from neighboring countries as part of the G5 Sahel Joint Force. Along with Chad, the 5,000-person G5 Sahel Joint Force is made up of troops from Burkina Faso, Mali, Mauritania and Niger. The force was created in 2017 as a unified response to extremist factions such as Boko Haram, al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb and other insurgent groups that operate across national borders in the thinly populated belt…

ADF STAFF As Zimbabwe battles famine and COVID-19, the U.S. government has pledged $60 million in food aid to the country as it faces a particularly dire “lean season.” The money will go to the World Food Program’s 2020-21 Lean Season Food Assistance program in Zimbabwe. The food shortage is largely due to a drastic drop in corn production that has affected more than 4.3 million Zimbabweans in rural areas and 2.2 million people in urban areas, according to recent studies cited by News24, a news channel. More than 14.4 million people live in Zimbabwe, which borders South Africa to…

ADF STAFF The U.S. Department of Treasury announced new sanctions targeting Yevgeny Prigozhin, a Russian financier with a worldwide reach. The close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin is accused of trying to suppress democratic reform in Sudan in exchange for access to natural resources. Prigozhin heads the Internet Research Agency, which spreads disinformation via social media on behalf of Russian business and political interests. The U.S. government targeted Prigozhin’s physical assets in 2018 over his efforts to influence the 2016 and 2020 U.S. elections. Now targeted are his operations in Sudan, Hong Kong and Thailand. Prigozhin, who served nine…