ADF

ADF STAFF In 1827, Russia’s greatest poet, Alexander Pushkin, began his first work of prose, a historical novel titled The Moor of Peter the Great. It was based on the life of his African-born great-grandfather, Abram Petrovich Gannibal, who went from being a slave to becoming a Soldier, engineer and scholar. Pushkin never finished the book — and perhaps that was for the best. The life of his great-grandfather was so remarkable, a single book could not have done it justice. Gannibal was born in what is now Cameroon in 1696. His birth name was Abram, and he was the…

If erected as intended, this structure would have stood 137 feet tall and weighed 1,168 tons. Quarrymen are thought to have abandoned this project 3,500 years ago when cracks were found in its sides. The granite quarry has a canal that may have connected to the Nile and allowed the structure to float to its final destination. The object offers clues about the stoneworking techniques of ancient people. ANSWER: The Unfinished Obelisk at Aswan, Egypt

Tommy Victor Udoh | Nigerian Defense Space Agency Since 2009, the extremist group Boko Haram has killed 20,000 people in Nigeria and displaced 2.3 million more. The group, which has pledged its support to ISIS, has used social media to recruit Nigerians to its cause. Nigeria has taken positive steps to undermine the group and its use of social media: Financial intelligence gathering: The Bank Verification Number (BVN) program strengthens the security of banking transactions and improves national financial intelligence collection. This government initiative improves the detection of laundered money and shares information on emerging risks. Unique BVNs in Nigeria…

UNITED NATIONS SUPPORT OFFICE IN SOMALIA In a unique event, 39 female military and signals personnel from 17 countries took a two-week course on information and communications technology. The course was held at the United Nations Signals Academy at the U.N. Regional Service Centre Entebbe, Uganda, in November 2016. Skills taught at the course will allow female military and police personnel to play a greater role in peacekeeping operations. Several of the women who participated were serving in the African Union Mission in Somalia. Samuel Leal, U.N. Signals Academy Programme manager, expressed the academy’s dedication to promoting gender equality and…

U.S. AFRICA COMMAND STAFF The future of warfare and peacekeeping is all about finding smarter, more precise and more effective ways to use military might. Technology will play a major role in this. Tech tools that are new today will become integrated into the daily life of the warfighter tomorrow. Change is constant. Cellphones, computers and GPS devices were unheard of on the battlefield 20 years ago. Now they are essential to the planning and execution of military missions. The next generation of technology will be no different. It is incumbent on Soldiers, peacekeepers and police officers to embrace this…

As we mark International Peacekeepers’ Day, you must rededicate yourselves to your declared professional mission and values as encapsulated in our Code of Conduct. You need to ensure that you consistently strive to deserve the trust that the people of our country and wherever you are deployed beyond our borders granted you. Through your dedicated work and discipline, rise to the challenges before you. Warfighting places the greatest demand on military forces. The conduct of military operations is demanding in the physical, psychological, mental and moral sense, and that is why forces are trained and equipped for that. Therefore, it…

REUTERS Boko Haram militants in May 2017 released 82 schoolgirls who had been kidnapped from the northeastern Nigerian town of Chibok. The terrorist group, which kidnapped about 270 girls in April 2014, has killed 20,000 people and displaced more than 2 million during a seven-year insurgency aimed at creating an Islamic caliphate in northeastern Nigeria. Dozens escaped in the initial melee, but more than 200 remained missing for more than two years. Nigeria thanked Switzerland and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) for helping to secure the release of the 82 girls after “lengthy negotiations,” the president’s office…

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE West African schoolgirls, some not yet teenagers, have taken a starring role at an engineering competition in Senegal, crushing stereotypes with their robotics expertise. The Pan-African Robotics Competition in Dakar, Senegal, in May 2017 reflected the growing importance of science education as a way to spur the economy and spark development. Rows of young women from Senegal, The Gambia and Mali screamed for their teams as robots picked up plastic cones and dropped them onto markers. Senegal’s Mariama-Ba all-girls academy won the high school category for a “made in Africa” pump solution to flooding, and girls were well-represented…

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE Ahmed Harrad spends his days crisscrossing northern Morocco trying to persuade locals to protect the endangered Barbary macaque monkey. “If nothing is done, this species will disappear within 10 years,” warns a poster on his aging four-wheel-drive vehicle. The only species of macaque outside Asia, it lives on leaves and fruits and can weigh up to 20 kilograms. The species once lived throughout North Africa and parts of Europe. Having disappeared from Libya and Tunisia, it now lives in mountainous areas of Algeria and Morocco’s northern Rif region. Another semiwild population of about 200 in Gibraltar are the…

The Democratic Republic of the Congo Serves as a Testing Ground for Using Unmanned Aerial Surveillance ADF STAFF The blue, mineral-rich waters of Lake Kivu separating Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) form a busy trade route. Merchants load goods into canoes, motorboats and ferries. The route is vital to local commerce, but all involved know the risks. The lake is not always calm, and the boats are not all sturdy. On May 5, 2014, a type of boat known locally as a “canot rapide” capsized in strong winds. About 24 were aboard — most without life vests — and…