ADF

Clues: This is the largest church in the world. It can hold 18,000 people inside its walls, and the esplanade can accommodate 300,000. Its design is based on St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, with a 149-meter-tall dome and colonnade forming a Latin cross.  The colonnades are supported by 272 Doric columns, which are up to 31 meters tall. ANSWER: Basilica of Our Lady of Peace, Yamoussoukro, Côte d’Ivoire

Vigilante groups offer short-term security, but northern Cameroon needs long-term development ADF STAFF When a female suicide bomber came to Mora, Cameroon, and refused to stop at a checkpoint, it looked like another gruesome attack was about to occur in a region that has grown used to carnage. Then something unusual happened. A civilian who is part of a self-defense group in the town shot an arrow with a poison tip at the attacker. The shot killed the woman as a second suicide bomber detonated her vest, but the blast killed only the terrorist. The armed citizen’s quick action likely saved…

U.S. Africa Command Staff An ancient African proverb says, “When spider webs unite, they can halt a lion.” This bit of wisdom shows what we all know intuitively: We’re stronger when we work together. This is as true on the local level as it is in the realm of international security partnerships. Terror groups know no borders, and they take advantage of weak spots wherever they are found on the map. When one country adds pressure, terrorists shift their operations to a safe haven in a neighboring country. This is what makes regional partnerships so important. We have seen the…

When our administration assumed office, our first task was to tackle and defeat Boko Haram. We restructured and re-equipped our Armed Forces. We strengthened cooperation among Lake Chad Basin Commission members and Benin. By December 2015, the gallant armed forces of Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad and Niger had degraded Boko Haram forces and squeezed them into a small enclave of Sambisa forest. What remains is to dislodge the terrorists from their hideout in Sambisa Forest and safely liberate the Chibok girls and other victims of abduction. Boko Haram now resorts to hit-and-run tactics, cowardly attacking soft targets, hitting innocent and defenseless…

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE The Brain Freeze, an eardrum-bursting, tricked-out Nairobi bus — or matatu as it’s known in Kenya — studded with blue neon lights is like a nightclub rushing down the streets. Music pumps from vehicle loudspeakers, as videos flash across flat-screen televisions. “It’s like a club; this matatu is really cool,” said student Mary Nicola, 20. About 90 percent of Nairobi’s commuters use a matatu daily. Competition is fierce, and a tricked-out ride like the Brain Freeze can make all the difference. Matatus are named after Manchester United footballers, singer Alicia Keys, Nelson Mandela, U.S. President Barack Obama and…

BBC NEWS AT BBC.CO.UK/NEWS Tanzania has removed more than 10,000 “ghost workers” from its public sector payroll in a crackdown on corruption. Payments to the nonexistent employees cost the government more than $2 million a month, according to the prime minister’s office. Authorities say they still are auditing the public payroll and expect to find more phantom workers. President John Magufuli, who was elected in October 2015, promised to cut wasteful public expenditures. He ordered the audit in March 2016 and said the money saved would be put toward development. Nicknamed the bulldozer, Magufuli has announced a range of cost-cutting…

Wages War on Pests in South African Vineyard REUTERS At 9:45 a.m. each day, more than 1,000 Indian Runner ducks are released for the first of two sorties at Vergenoegd vineyard in Stellenbosch, South Africa. Their mission: Seek and eat thousands of tiny white dune snails feasting on budding vines. “Before we had the ducks, we had to put down snail bait, a pesticide. But for the past nine years I have been here we’ve used very little snail bait — almost nothing — because the ducks eat all the snails and other insects,” said vintner and horticulturalist Marlize Jacobs.…

Cameroon evolves to thwart Boko Haram’s changing tactics ADF STAFF Photos by The Cameroonian Armed Forces On the afternoon of October 15, 2014, Boko Haram launched an audacious attack. About 1,000 fighters crossed the barren border that separates Cameroon and Nigeria and surrounded the town of Amchidé. Young foot soldiers armed with AK-47s and known as crieurs for their fanatical shrieks made up the first wave. Next, older fighters rushed in on pickup trucks mounted with machine guns. Last came three tanks crushing everything in their path. The insurgents overran a police station and a gendarmerie post and took control…

Brig. Gen. Daniel Ziankahn says the Armed Forces of Liberia emerged from the country’s Ebola crisis stronger and ready to lead Brig. Gen. Daniel Ziankahn is the chief of staff of the Armed Forces of Liberia (AFL). Appointed to the top post in 2014, he is the first Liberian to lead the military since the end of the nation’s civil war in 2003. Before his current position, he served as a platoon leader and as the military assistant to the Minister of Defense, the AFL-deputy assistant chief of staff for operations, and executive officer and later commander of the 23rd…

The country’s military played a key role in stopping the epidemic and organizing the country’s resources BRIG. GEN. DANIEL ZIANKAHN CHIEF OF STAFF/ARMED FORCES OF LIBERIA MAJ. SCOTT POLASEK SECURITY COOPERATION DIRECTORATE/WEST DESK OFFICER/U.S. ARMY Liberia still feels the pain from the loss of more than 4,000 of its citizens to the Ebola epidemic. The 2014 outbreak devastated communities and forever changed the country. The Armed Forces of Liberia (AFL) played a key support role in the eventual containment of the epidemic. The AFL learned many lessons that can inform future military responses, not only for Ebola outbreaks, but for…