ADF

ADF STAFF Government officials and citizens packed into the stands of Freedom Square in Owerri, Nigeria, on May 29, 2017, to mark an important date in the country’s recent history. Police officers, Nigerian Army personnel and civilians marched through the public square about 80 kilometers north of Port Harcourt in Imo State. But they weren’t there to celebrate a person or a battle; they were celebrating a form of government. The assembled crowds were commemorating Democracy Day, a yearly celebration of the restoration of democracy after years of military rule in the federal republic. The holiday marks May 29, 1999,…

Tracking and Relieving Hunger Can Be a Challenge. The Key for Soldiers? Knowing Their Role By the time the world hears about a famine, it’s probably too late. International aid organizations say early alerts and rapid responses to food shortages are the only ways to save lives. Before the United Nations declared famine in Somalia in 2011, it had issued 16 warnings that danger was imminent. Those warnings mostly were ignored and, by the time famine officially was declared, 120,000 people had died. “Once famine takes root, it’s that much harder to recover,” wrote Aryn Baker in Time magazine. “Yet the call…

Africa’s pastoralists and farmers are in conflict. Boko Haram sees an opportunity. ADF STAFF For generations, Fulani herdsmen have roamed North Africa, grazing their animals. In the 60 years of post-colonial Africa, life for the herdsmen, also known as pastoralists, has become harder, as they compete with farmers for fertile land, often resorting to violence. Since 2000, tens of thousands of people have died in pastoralist-related violence in Nigeria alone. Now, extremists, including the terror group Boko Haram, are attacking the pastoralists and their cattle, all while encouraging them to rebel against the farmers and join the extremists’ causes. The…

The Mosquito-Borne Disease Is a Continental Problem, but a Program is Equipping African Militaries to Fight It ADF STAFF An insidious, debilitating force has attacked tiny Burundi, in Africa’s Great Lakes region. Since the beginning of 2015, there have been 16.8 million cases of malaria reported in the country, according to the United Nations. More than 7,800 people have died in that period, and many more may face a lifetime of relapses and illness, depending on the strain of the disease and the level of treatment they received. The crisis, which officials labeled an epidemic, is a crushing blow to…

Armed Forces Have The Skills And Tools To Respond To Crises ADF STAFF or years, when countries needed their armed forces’ help during natural disasters, the philosophy was “last in, first out” — don’t use them except as a last resort, and use them as little as possible. But that thinking is at odds with the need for a timely response, which is something armed forces are trained to do. The “last resort” thinking, particularly in Africa, has given way to the realization that armies, navies and air forces have a particular set of skills and equipment and can, in…

VOICE OF AMERICA Africa’s largest film festival, FESPACO, celebrated its 25th edition in 2017. The main venue, as always, was the old and respectable Cine Burkina, in the heart of Burkina Faso’s capital, Ouagadougou. The city used to have at least nine dedicated cinemas — now only two remain. It is a picture that is repeated across the continent. In Senegal, don’t go looking for the Cinema de Paris, the old film temple at the Place de l’Independence in downtown Dakar. It’s gone. It was knocked down in 2011, and the space it left behind was filled with hotels and…

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE Youssou N’Dour, Senegal’s — and perhaps Africa’s — most famous musician, is throwing his weight behind malaria eradication in his homeland. N’Dour has performed and toured since the 1970s, blending Senegalese music with soul, hip-hop and jazz. But he is also known for his work as a longtime campaigner for malaria prevention. The disease remains all too common in Senegal, with 500,000 recorded cases in 2015, including 4,400 deaths. Worldwide, malaria killed more than 400,000 people in 2016, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). The vast majority were children living in Sub-Saharan Africa. Children are more susceptible…

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE FIFA officials say that Africa wants 10 places in the 48-nation World Cup in 2026, up five slots. The current system has 32 teams. “All associations back an expanded World Cup, and Africa hopes for 10 places,” said South African FA President Danny Jordaan. The expansion of the World Cup, passed by the FIFA Council, goes into effect for the 2026 tournament. The new system will feature 16 first-round groups from which winners and runners-up qualify for the knockout phase. Africa has had five places since the 1998 World Cup in France. No African country has advanced past…

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE Moussa Faki Mahamat, former foreign minister of Chad, assumed office as head of the African Union Commission, pledging to reform the institution and tackle the continent’s crises. Faki took over leadership of the 54-country continental bloc in March, 2017 days after the United Nations announced food emergencies in four countries, including three in Africa: Somalia, South Sudan and northeast Nigeria. The U.N. said the food shortages constitute the worst humanitarian crisis since World War II. “The famine that ravages vast areas of Africa these days is a real humiliation for us,” Faki told delegates at the commission’s headquarters…

ADF STAFF Tunisian authorities announced they have stopped more than 27,000 young people from joining terror groups since 2012. Interior Minister Hadi al-Majdoub said the young people have been prevented from traveling to foreign countries where armed conflicts are ongoing. Al-Majdoub said that aside from those prevented from leaving the country, about 800 suspected extremists have returned from abroad, and about 190 of them were arrested. The others are being closely monitored for signs of extremist activity, he told the newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat. Tunisia has contributed more foreign fighters to ISIS than any other African country. Al-Majdoub said about 3,000…