ADF

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE Ethiopia set fire to a 6-ton pile of seized elephant ivory, the country’s entire stock, vowing a zero-tolerance policy toward poachers and traffickers. Burning the stock, which included huge tusks, elaborate carvings, necklaces and bracelets, came in March 2015, two weeks after neighboring Kenya took similar action aimed at demonstrating renewed commitment to protect Africa’s iconic but dwindling elephant population. “The message we’re sending is that we have zero tolerance for poaching and illegal trafficking,” said Dawud Mume Ali, director of the Ethiopian Wildlife Conservation Authority. “We are trying to save the elephants from extinction. This is part…

REUTERS Ethiopia will complete expansion of the capital’s airport in 2018 to triple the number of passengers it handles from 7 million a year now and will soon pick a site for a new hub to deal with 10 times the number in the future, a senior official said. Bole International Airport, on the edge of Addis Ababa, is home to Ethiopian Airlines, the state-owned national carrier that is Africa’s largest by revenue and profit. Less than a decade ago, the airport handled 1 million passengers a year, but that rose to 7 million in 2014. Officials expect it to…

THE CITIZEN, TANZANIA Business executives in East Africa are optimistic about the regional economy despite insecurity in Kenya and weakening currencies, a survey indicates. A global entrepreneur indicator survey conducted by Entrepreneur Organisation (EO), a network of more than 10,000 business owners, shows that 78 percent of entrepreneurs are willing to start a business under the current economic environment. The survey was released in April 2015. The EO’s founding president, Sriram Bharatam, attributed the results to the confidence and optimism that East African entrepreneurs and companies have developed over the years. “In terms of business momentum, the indicators show that…

ADF STAFF One thousand entrepreneurs representing 52 African countries are in the first class of winners of the Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurship Program. The winners were announced in March 2015. The selection committee was made up of some of Africa’s most successful business leaders. In all, 20,000 African entrepreneurs applied when the online application portal opened on January 1, 2015. “Filling the form itself was an enlightening process that helped me see a lot of loopholes to eliminate from my business, and regardless of the outcome, I know that I am on track towards the achievement of my dream,” applicant Obewe…

REUTERS Jaki Kweka is that rare breed of gourmet chocolatier who makes fine chocolate in Tanzania using local ingredients. Other African companies such as Ghana’s Golden Tree use local cocoa but import milk powder and sugar. Multinationals such as Nestlé mass produce chocolate in South Africa for the continent’s consumers and source ingredients globally. But few companies match Kweka’s ideal. She uses Tanzanian beans and local sugar to make organic chocolate that is 100 percent African. She packages her bars in recycled maize husks for extra authenticity. Kweka’s Chocolate Mamas is one of a handful of East African companies carving…

When Emperor Tewodros II came to power in Ethiopia in 1855, the country had been fragmented for nearly a century. The central government had been abolished in 1769, and the country was divided into small kingdoms. In the country’s history, that time is known as the “Era of Princes and Wealthy Feudal Lords,” or Zemene Mesafint. With an army he assembled, Tewodros conquered and reunified the splintered country. He took land from the princes and gave it to ordinary people. He paid his professional Soldiers so they would not have to plunder to survive. He tried to abolish slavery and…

CLUES This rare major inland delta system does not flow into an ocean or sea. The site has about 600,000 hectares of permanent swamps and about 1.2 million hectares of seasonally flooded grassland. Wildlife here has adapted its growth and reproductive behavior to the arrival of floodwater during the dry winters. It is home to several endangered species, including the African wild dog, cheetah, lion, black rhinoceros and white rhinoceros. ANSWER: The Okavango Delta, Botswana

Maj. Gen. Ibrahim Sani, chief of transformation and innovation for the Nigerian Army, said his country is countering the threat of Boko Haram and other asymmetric threats by “thinking outside the box.” The military is taking the fight to what he calls “dark networks” of terrorists with a combination of technology, improved training and a newly created Nigerian Army Special Operations Command (NASOC). Speaking to ADF in February 2015 at the Global Special Operations Forces Foundation conference in St. Petersburg, Florida, Sani said his job is to look for innovative solutions to emerging threats. “I look at administration, I look…

BENJAMIN AWUVAFOGE/KOFI ANNAN INTERNATIONAL PEACEKEEPING TRAINING CENTRE The understanding of security often is limited to armed conflict or violent situations. Hence, most governments’ security planning is focused on the military and police to the exclusion of important sectors such as health and sanitation. This narrow conception of security has complicated the fight against disease in Africa. According to scholar Mohammed Ayoob, security is defined in relation to internal and external vulnerabilities that can significantly weaken territorial and institutional state structures and regimes. That means anything that poses a threat to the survival and life of an individual is a security issue.…

Interstate conflicts have become relatively rare. Militaries today are not often asked to defend national borders from an invading army. The threats of the 21st century in Africa and around the world come mainly from extremist groups, rebels, separatist movements and other bands of fighters. These groups know they cannot face down a national military in a head-to-head battle. They also know that the majority of the civilian population is not on their side. So, instead of standard warfare, they look to gain an asymmetric advantage. Asymmetric warfare occurs when a smaller fighting force adopts unconventional tactics and strategies to…