ADF

Clashes in Kenya Reveal the Need to Control Illegal Weapons ADF STAFF Cattle rustling is not new to northwest Kenya. For generations, it has been a way of life in this rugged part of the world. Young men of the Turkana and Pokot tribes, who live side by side in the semiarid region, are taught that protecting livestock and, in some cases, taking it by force from their neighbors, is necessary to survive. But in recent years this practice has grown deadlier. Firearms have replaced the traditional arrows and spears. Water, always scarce, has dried up. Herders have grown desperate.…

Asian countries that have allowed the sale of ivory and rhino horn are feeling the heat. ADF STAFF China, the world’s largest market for ivory, has announced that it plans to ban all ivory trade by the end of 2017, a move aimed to discourage elephant poaching. An estimated 70 percent of illegal ivory goes to China, where a pair of ivory chopsticks sells for $1,000 and a skillfully carved tusk can sell for about the cost of a new Ferrari. For years, China, along with other countries in Asia, has been under worldwide pressure to stop the ivory trade.…

ADF STAFF The Balule Nature Reserve is a protected area in Limpopo Province, South Africa, and is part of the Greater Kruger National Park. The reserve has a group of guardian angels who are like no other — the Black Mambas. The Mambas, named after a fast-moving, venomous snake, roam the reserve looking for poachers. The all-female team of 36 rangers was founded in 2013. The group, formally known as the Black Mamba Anti-Poaching Unit, acts as an environmental monitor. Members patrol the entire 400 square kilometers of the reserve. The unarmed Mambas go on foot patrols and observations, conduct…

Human Trafficking Is a Global Problem, but One Program Provides Hope ADF STAFF When seasonal rains fall in Gloria Erobaga’s small village in Nigeria’s Edo State, the crude dirt roads soften and wash away, making access nearly impossible. The same rains form pools on the floors of her school, which sits in disrepair a 90-minute walk away. Homes have no electricity, and families live cramped in the small mud-brick structures. So when someone visits with a promise that a girl can have travel to Europe, get a guaranteed job and a university education, some families are eager to agree. Finally,…

Trafficking Networks Can Destroy a State From Within ADF STAFF In the early 2000s, West Africa became the preferred point of entry for traffickers moving narcotics from South America to Europe. This brought a new type of economic activity into countries along the Gulf of Guinea, and many living there saw it as a chance to make money. Taking bribes from drug traffickers or offering smugglers safe passage were commonly viewed as victimless crimes. After all, the deadly product wasn’t destined for African consumers. These traffickers were just passing through. Some locals who participated in the drug trade gained high…

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE Young, determined and from parts of Cape Town known for gangs rather than yacht clubs, seven sailors took part in an epic ocean race to Brazil. The crew of the 43-foot Gryphon boat competed in the Cape2Rio race — a 5,600-kilometer adventure across the South Atlantic to Rio de Janeiro. Twenty-eight yachts started the race, which mixed professional sailors with enthusiastic amateurs on a continent-to-continent passage. The Gryphon team was put together by the Hout Bay Youth Sailing Development Trust, just outside Cape Town, as part of its work with disadvantaged young people. “The sailing training is to…

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE In the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s war-scarred Great Lakes region, carpenter-turned-sculptor Sauveur Mulwana has left a trail of monumental statues over the past decade as part of his self-styled mission to revive local history and boost peace. The 42-year-old moved back home to Butembo, a teeming city of more than a million near the borders of Rwanda and Uganda, when his carpentry business was razed by the eruption of the Nyiragongo volcano in the city of Goma. Butembo is home to the ethnic Nande people of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda, so it follows…

BBC NEWS AT BBC.CO.UK/NEWS Riyad Mahrez was crowned the BBC African Footballer of the Year 2016. Fans from across the world voted for the midfielder, who plays for Algeria’s national team, nicknamed the Fennecs, as well as for Leicester City in the English Premier League. He came in ahead of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Andre Ayew, Sadio Mane and Yaya Toure in the voting. The award caps an exceptional year for the 25-year-old winger, who had already won the Premier League title and was voted the Professional Footballers’ Association Player of the Year. It was further recognition for his outstanding form as…

REUTERS Nigeria and Morocco have signed a joint venture to construct a gas pipeline that will connect the two nations and other African countries to Europe. The agreement was reached during a visit by Morocco’s King Mohammed to the Nigerian capital, Abuja, said Geoffrey Onyema, Nigeria’s minister of foreign affairs. Onyema said the project aims to create a competitive regional electricity market with the potential to be connected to European energy markets. No timeline was given for when the pipeline construction will start and how much it will cost. “Nigeria and the kingdom of Morocco also agreed to develop integrated…

VOICE OF AMERICA Nigerian Environment Minister Amina Mohammed has been named deputy secretary-general of the United Nations. The appointment made by U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was part of his pledge to reach gender parity among senior leadership within his five-year term. He also appointed Brazilian diplomat Maria Luiza Ribeiro Viotti as chef de cabinet and Kyung-wha Kang of South Korea to a newly created position as special advisor on policy. “We must empower youth to participate in and shape the political and economic lives of their countries and communities, to be the agents of peace and development,” Mohammed said in…