ADF

A Continental Operation Backed by Interpol Results in 4,500 Arrests in Two Days ADF STAFF It was a dragnet operation on a continental level. Over the course of 48 hours, 1,500 police officers fanned out across 22 countries and made 4,500 arrests. Some of the crimes they discovered were small: In Eritrea, officials stopped a man at an airport with a fake passport. Some were serious: Tanzanian officials charged nine people with possessing 1.2 metric tons of ivory. Some of the crimes revealed global links and professional organization: During a cargo check of a flight arriving in Sudan, authorities found 88,000…

A Conversation with Asan Kasingye, Uganda’s Director of Interpol Asan Kasingye is Uganda’s director of Interpol and International Relations. He also serves as assistant inspector general for the Ugandan Police Force. He spoke to ADF by phone about Operation Usalama and his country’s efforts to fight transnational crime. After this interview was conducted, Kasingye accepted a new role as police spokesman. His remarks have been edited to fit this format. ADF: During Usalama III, your officers impounded more than 1,000 kilograms of narcotics. How big of a problem are drugs in Uganda and East Africa as a whole? KASINGYE: I think one…

ADF STAFF Each October, as the South African spring gives way to summer, the sky in Cape Town becomes a kaleidoscope of colors. A surprising mix of creatures — both real and imaginary — joins the birds in taking flight. Fish fly by, as do raccoons, cats, squids, tigers and whales. Sometimes, a dragon appears, its serpentine body swaying to and fro. Each is tethered to a string and climbs and swoops with the caprices of the city’s seasonal breezes. People come from all over the world to participate in the annual Cape Town International Kite Festival. The 22nd annual…

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…