ADF

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE In most countries, health ministers are seen as bureaucrats more interested in paperwork than medical miracles. But in Madagascar, Mamy Lalatiana Andriamanarivo recently picked up a scalpel and separated conjoined twins in a medical first for the island nation. The surgery was performed at the Joseph Ravoahangy Andrianavalona hospital on September 13, 2017, to separate twins joined at the abdomen and lower thorax, said Jean Marie Rasamimanana, deputy technical director at the hospital in the capital Antananarivo. “The separation of the 5-month-old twins, Mitia and Fitia, who weighed 13 kilograms and were delivered by caesarian section, involved the…

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE In Benin’s economic capital of Cotonou, as in many other African cities, finding a house, office or restaurant is often like a treasure hunt. Luck, if not a miracle, is required because street names and address numbers usually are not posted. Most people in Cotonou use complex combinations of landmarks and directions to navigate town. Sam Agbadonou, a 34-year-old former medical technician, knows the frustration. “I was called when there were breakdowns and went to health centers to repair machines that save lives,” he said. “But some centers are really in the middle of outlying neighborhoods, and it…

Nigerian and Regional Efforts Helped Turn the Tide Against the Insurgent Group ADF STAFF Boko Haram has left its mark in blood and destruction across Nigeria and in neighboring countries. The Islamist militant group has killed more than 20,000 people since emerging as a dangerous terrorist force in 2009. Its catalog of destruction almost defies description. The catastrophic impact is nowhere more evident than in Nigeria’s northeastern Borno State. Its economic and social devastation is difficult to calculate, and yet a state government official released a tally of the losses in August 2017 in Maiduguri. Yerima Saleh, Borno State’s permanent…

The Commander of a Regional Force Believes Stability and Peace Will Brighten the Future of the Lake Chad Basin ADF STAFF Nigerian Army Maj. Gen. Lucky Irabor is commander of the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) headquartered in N’Djamena, Chad. From 2016 to 2017 he served as theater commander of Operation Lafiya Dole, Nigeria’s military mission to defeat Boko Haram. A signals officer, he has served in numerous peacekeeping missions including the Economic Community of West African States Monitoring Group in Sierra Leone. He also served as 3 Division Signal Brigade commander in Nigeria’s northeast and, at the direction of…

The Multinational Joint Task Force Shows the Strengths and Limits of Collective Security Action ADF STAFF With an ability to hop across borders and exploit weak spots in the four countries surrounding Lake Chad, Boko Haram took advantage of a divided region to gain strength. The affected countries decided there was only one way to tackle this problem: Join forces. The result was the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF), a 10,500-person regional military effort designed to stamp out Boko Haram once and for all. The MNJTF was established by the Lake Chad Basin Commission (LCBC) in 1998 to fight highway banditry and other…

Diffa State launched a program to reintegrate insurgents and bring peace to its villages. ADF STAFF The need for DDR — disarmament, demobilization and reintegration — of surrendering insurgents is as old as warfare itself. Rebels grow tired of fighting, they surrender to their victors, and they go through a process of rehabilitation before returning to society. In the case of Boko Haram insurgents, DDR is particularly complex. It can include not just surrendering fighters, but their wives and children, as well as former hostages. Boko Haram also has an extremist ideology with fighters vowing to destroy the state and…

ADF STAFF Lawlessness and terror have plagued Somalia for years. Although an African Union peacekeeping force has improved matters in the East African nation, violence is still a threat. In late October 2017, militants attacked the Hotel Naso Hablod in the Hamarweyne district of Mogadishu, killing 29 people during a 12-hour siege. At least 12 of those killed were police officers. Earlier that month, children in T-shirts and shorts played in the water near the ruins of a building in the same district, underscoring the dichotomy of life in Somalia: Children play. Adults buy goods in city markets. Somalis have…

Operation Lafiya Dole Puts Enduring Peace Within Reach for Northeast Nigeria ADF STAFF The military operation was as important symbolically as it was strategically. On December 22, 2016, Nigeria’s Armed Forces advanced on “Camp Zairo,” a base deep in the Sambisa Forest that had served as Boko Haram’s nerve center. The assault began in the early morning with an aerial bombardment. Alpha Jets, F-7 supersonic jets and Mi-35 combat helicopters pounded the camp. After the bombing, ground troops backed by close air support advanced with little resistance and, during a mop-up operation, arrested 1,240 suspected Boko Haram fighters and family…

Military force alone won’t eliminate Boko Haram; the country must address the problems that led to the group’s creation. DR. HUSSEIN SOLOMON Since the insurgency started in 2009, the extremist group Boko Haram has killed tens of thousands and forced 2.6 million people from their homes. The group is the single biggest threat to peace and security in Nigeria. But Nigeria’s military and civilian leaders agree that stopping Boko Haram will require more than just bullets and bombs. “You can never solve any of these problems with military solutions,” said Gen. Martin Luther Agwai, Nigeria’s former chief of defense staff.…

Air Power is a Critical Tool in Stopping Boko Haram ADF STAFF On Friday, September 1, 2017, Boko Haram extremists took a break from their warfare to observe a holiday. Hundreds of the fighters gathered under trees in the Sambisa Forest in Borno State, northeast Nigeria. Nigerian surveillance spotted them. The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) dispatched fighter jets. An Alpha Jet began the attack with bombs, “neutralizing” hundreds of the fighters, said a report published in Nigeria’s Daily Post. A second jet followed with a bomb attack, and a third fighter used rockets to strafe fleeing insurgents. “After the attacks,…