ADF

When residents of Uis in western Namibia started noticing daily convoys of large trucks leaving what they thought was a small-scale artisanal mining site in January 2023, a group of community activists sprang into action. They helped uncover an illegal Chinese lithium mining scheme involved in allegations of fraud, corruption, environmental crimes and labor abuses. Within months they had organized protests that have continued ever since. Namibia’s Ministry of Mines and Energy launched a criminal investigation in December 2024 after a surprise inspection by mining commissioner Isabella Chirchir found that Xinfeng Investments had mixed thousands of metric tons of unprocessed…

Somali security forces in 2022 reclaimed the town of Adan Yabaal, a logistical hub for the government forces, from the al-Shabaab terror group. However, on April 16, 2025, al-Shabaab reclaimed the town, which is about 220 kilometers north of Mogadishu, the national capital. The predawn raid forced government forces to retreat from the town, which connects Hirshabelle State to neighboring Galmudug State. “After early morning prayers, we heard a deafening explosion, then gunfire,” Fatuma Nur, a mother of four, told Reuters. “Al-Shabab attacked us from two directions.” The loss of Adan Yabaal underscores the Somali government’s difficulty in stabilizing communities…

As March ended, Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) leader Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan stood outside the Republican Palace and raised his fist, a demonstration that the rival Rapid Support Forces (RSF) had been driven from Khartoum. As Sudan’s war enters its third year, analysts say the return of al-Burhan to the nation’s capital marked a turning point in the war between Sudan’s de fact leader and RSF chief Mohamed Hamdan “Hemedti” Dagalo that began on April 15, 2023. Al-Burhan’s government has operated out of Port Sudan for most of the conflict. “The recapture of Khartoum city thus marks a watershed moment…

The United States Navy sailed the centerpiece of its 6th Fleet into two Libyan ports recently, the latest in a series of engagements to show U.S. support for Libyan security integration, sovereignty and cooperation. The USS Mount Whitney brought fleet commander Vice Adm. Jeffrey T. Anderson; Ambassador Richard Norland, U.S. special envoy for Libya; and Jeremy Berndt, chargé d’affaires ad interim of the U.S. Embassy to Libya; to Tripoli and Benghazi on April 20 and 21. The Mount Whitney is a Blue Ridge-class command and control vessel and the flagship of the 6th Fleet, which is based at Naval Support…

Amboma Safari and his family spent the night under their bed on April 11 as gunfire and bomb blasts echoed through the streets of Goma, the besieged capital of the North Kivu province. “We saw corpses of soldiers, but we don’t know which group they are from,” he told The Associated Press. As fighting continues to rage in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo between government forces, allied local militias and the Rwanda-backed M23 rebels, frustration with the disjointed Luanda Agreement peace process has gradually turned into pessimism. After leading the peace process for nearly three years, Angolan President João…

Russia has used its so-called “ghost fleet” of aging commercial vessels to evade sanctions on oil exports, but experts say the ships have another purpose: to traffic arms to Russian allies in eastern Libya. A recent report by Interpol documents shipments of weapons and equipment from Russian ports on the Black Sea to Tobruk in eastern Libya to supply Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar’s Libyan National Army. Mercenaries from Russia’s Africa Corps, formerly the Wagner Group, have taken over a Libyan military base in the east. From there, they have also shipped weapons to the Rapid Support Forces fighting government troops…

For the second year in a row, Burkina Faso is the nation most affected by terrorism in the world, according to the latest edition of the Global Terrorism Index. Australia’s Institute for Economics and Peace compiles its yearly list based on terrorism incidents, fatalities, injuries and hostages. Six of the list’s 10 countries most affected by terrorism are in Africa. In addition to Burkina Faso, the other African countries in the top 10 include its Sahelian neighbors, Mali (No. 4) and Niger (No. 5), along with Nigeria (No. 6), Somalia (No. 7) and Cameroon (No. 10). “The Sahel region remains…

The runway at Goma International Airport in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is still littered with abandoned military vehicles and equipment. The control tower, like the airport itself, remains inoperable months after M23 rebels backed by Rwanda’s military took the city by overwhelming force in January. Today, the battered airport stands as more than a symbol of the failure of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) mission to the embattled eastern DRC. It also is the very reason why 4,000 SADC troops are trapped in M23-controlled territory. SADC leaders on March 13 terminated the mission, known as SAMIDRC, and…

China’s expansion of its network of private security companies in Africa is unfolding in a legal gray area, analysts say. These companies, known as PSCs, are widening their reach without a strong regulatory framework, which poses risks such as lack of transparency, weak national controls and undue influence on governments, according to Habib al-Badawi, a professor at Lebanese University. “Domestic laws in China lack jurisdiction over PSCs operating abroad, and the enforceability of international laws remains a formidable challenge,” al-Badawi wrote in the Journal of Afro-Asian Studies. “The absence of a robust regulatory framework raises concerns about the need for…

Turkey is helping strengthen Somalia’s battle against illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing and other sea crimes. The two countries in 2024 signed a memorandum of understanding that established the Turkish Armed Forces as a maritime security and law enforcement partner with Somalia for 10 years. Turkey agreed to reconstruct, equip and train the Somali Navy while receiving 30% of the revenue generated from Somalia’s exclusive economic zone. This means Turkish warships could soon be patrolling Somali waters, analyst Ada Baser wrote in the Columbia Political Review. Turkey has a history of helping enhance Somalia’s security sector. This includes selling it…