ADF

ADF STAFF After a recent battle between the allies of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), fighters found a cache of unexpected documents. Among them were the passport, driver’s license and other documents belonging to a Colombian mercenary. In a video posted to the social platform X, formerly Twitter, a man in military fatigues speaks in Arabic as he records each document, all of them belonging to a 33-year-old Colombian corporal born in the Palestinian territories. “These are the people who are killing us,” one man says in the video. About 160 Colombian fighters…

ADF STAFF Amid the chaos of Sudan’s ongoing conflict, the country’s eastern Kassala State has remained relatively peaceful. However, the growing presence of militias in the region threatens to change that. Residents of Kassala and neighboring Gedaref states have reported convoys of military-style vehicles with mounted antiaircraft guns moving through in recent months. Sudanese militias have transited the region as they move from training camps in Eritrea and Ethiopia to fight the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in support of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) in Khartoum, Kordofan and other areas. At the same time, militias that have been fighting the…

ADF STAFF Kenya and Rwanda are emerging as Africa’s leading nations for developing drone technology as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) play an increasing role in the continent’s daily life. While drones have made an impact on Africa’s battlefields, they are also becoming key tools in agriculture, health care and telecommunications, particularly in remote areas where infrastructure is limited. Rwanda, for example, uses drones to deliver blood to hospitals and clinics far from the country’s urban centers. “We’ve seen a lot of improvement in terms of health care delivery, thanks to drones. Mainly around the fact that you’re able to save…

ADF STAFF In Sudan’s ongoing civil war, the United Arab Emirates is facing increased scrutiny over its role in arming the Rapid Support Forces. Since the war began in 2023, United Nations experts and other official sources have cited “credible allegations” of large transfers of weapons and military supplies from the UAE to two of Sudan’s neighbors to the east, Libya and Chad. Observers say these arms are being shipped across the border and are fueling war in Sudan. The Sudan Armed Forces said it has recovered ammunition, vehicles and weapons systems of UAE-origin in the hands of the RSF.…

ADF STAFF Every February 14 in a remote part of northwestern Cameroon, the people of Ngarbuh village gather to pray around the graves of the 21 civilians killed in 2020 by a group of soldiers and militiamen in one of the worst atrocities of the still-simmering civil war. After initially denying responsibility, the army investigated and released a statement calling it “an unfortunate accident, the collateral result of security operations in the region.” Ma-Shey Margaret survived, but all of her neighbors were killed, including an uncle and his entire family. A row of five burned-out homes stands nearby as a…

ADF STAFF The Islamic State group has doubled its presence in Somalia in recent months due to an influence of foreign fighters, many of them coming from countries in Africa and the Middle East, according to the United Nations. The U.N. Sanctions Monitoring Team for Somalia estimates IS-Somalia now has 600 to 700 fighters. The expansion has enabled IS to expand its operations and challenge al-Shabaab, which is affiliated with IS’s rival al-Qaida. IS-Somalia has taken over some former al-Shabaab territory in the mountains of northern Somalia. Fighters are coming from Ethiopia, Morocco, Syria, Sudan, Tanzania and Yemen. In most…

ADF STAFF South African children as young as 11 are being radicalized and recruited to commit terror acts, according to an Institute for Security Studies expert who spoke at the Border Management Conference and Expo in Pretoria in November. Young people in areas such as the East Rand, Hillbrow, Mayfair and Soweto are being radicalized in madrassas, which are religious schools or colleges that teach Islamic subjects. Young people are also increasingly targeted by terror groups through social media. According to the institute, the risk has not been addressed effectively due to a lack of intelligence capacity. “This is ongoing…

ADF STAFF Among the most pressing issues that must be addressed by Ghana’s new president, John Dramani Mahama, is devising and deploying a coherent, multifaceted approach to the growing threat of terrorist groups spilling south from the Sahel. Mahama, who held the same position from 2012 to 2017, made the country’s economic crisis his dominant platform, and experts have long called for much more investment in the north to complement Ghana’s military approach to preventing militants from gaining ground. He is originally from Damongo in northern Ghana, which raises hopes that he will restore peace to the region. “Expectations of…

ADF STAFF After years of propping up Syrian despot Bashar al-Assad with a combination of military and mercenary might, Russia ultimately could not protect him from a rebel offensive that quickly toppled the government in December. While the downfall of Assad has worldwide geopolitical implications, it reverberated particularly strongly in Africa, where Russia is supporting military juntas and autocratic leaders. “[It] is a strategic political defeat for Moscow and has thrown the Kremlin into a crisis,” the Institute for the Study of War wrote on December 8. “Russia’s inability or decision to not reinforce Assad’s regime as the Syrian opposition…

ADF STAFF Five men entered a roofless, windowless concrete structure on the island of Lamu, just off the Kenyan coast. They sat on the building’s trash-strewn floor and used razors to cut heroin with marijuana, rolling it into a thin cigarette and smoking it. Among the men was Mohamed Tai, one of Kenya’s estimated 27,000 heroin users, who spoke openly about his addiction. Beside him, two men sat hunched over, their eyes directed at the floor, while another man calmly pulled on the thin cigarette. “It is a very bad addiction, but it is ignored by the community, government and…