ADF

As Russia struggles with the immense cost of its war in Ukraine, which is entering its fifth year, it has turned to selling gold bullion. “Russia has steadily depleted its sovereign wealth fund’s liquid reserves funding its war in Ukraine and has had to resort to selling its gold reserves due to unsustainable spending,” the Institute for the Study of War think tank said in a December 2025 assessment. Much of the gold has been taken from African countries such as Burkina Faso, the Central African Republic and Mali, where Russian mercenaries have propped up authoritarian regimes in exchange for…

In October 2025, Malagasy protesters met the news of a military takeover with jubilation and validation for their rallies, which had sought the ouster of President Andry Rajoelina. Then a sober reality set in: life under military rule. “Often, these successful power grabs are met with applause and support in the streets, as in Madagascar,” researchers Salah Ben Hammou and Jonathan Powell wrote in an analysis for Foreign Policy magazine. “But the veneer of legitimacy often fades as soon as the dust settles. Many coups, after all, are staged not to advance revolutionary demands but to contain them.” Protests over…

As Sudan’s civil war continues, two mass graves have been discovered around Khartoum, the national capital. Locals say the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), led by Gen. Mohamed Hamdan “Hemedti” Dagalo, transferred bodies to the graves from makeshift detention centers. The victims were civilians and military personnel who were tortured at the centers, Turkish broadcaster TRT World reported. They were transported by other detainees and buried in pits dug with heavy machinery. Their remains suggested that they were buried haphazardly. Sudanese officials are working to open the graves to properly bury the victims but face hurdles. “The delay in opening…

As terror groups in Africa fundraise, recruit and coordinate online, security forces and technology companies are collaborating to fight them. “Terrorists are pervasive on the web, and this necessitates many, many up-to-date tools and having enough actors on our end to monitor all of these tools,” Maj. Guéable Hervé Zeni, chief of the Cyber Defense Office of the Armed Forces of Côte d’Ivoire, told a recent webinar hosted by the Africa Center for Strategic Studies. The webinar focused on the best ways for African nations to combat terrorism online. Zeni and his team of technology experts pay close attention to,…

Umaru Tanko stood in the middle of a town reduced to ashes. Outside a charred shop in the western Nigerian town of Woro he told a reporter that the bodies of a friend’s son and grandson lay inside. “They set them ablaze … but we did them no wrong,” Tanko told Al Jazeera. Islamic State group (IS) terrorists leveled the Kwara State community in a February 3 attack. Locals said terrorists targeted them for refusing to allow radical preachers to give speeches in the town. After the violence, only about 200 people remained from a once-bustling town of 17,000. On…

What is security? It could mean access to food, shelter, health care, economic stability or protection from violence. Often it means all of the above. Increasingly, militaries are taking a holistic approach to security provision. They know that their primary responsibility is to protect the citizens of the country, but that rarely can be done through military means alone. More often, complex problems require a response that addresses the root causes of insecurity. In West Africa, for example, coastal nations face a growing threat from Sahel-based terrorist groups. These groups are determined to expand southward and form a caliphate that…

Gen. Charles Muriu Kahariri, Kenya’s chief of the defense forces, gave the opening remarks at the 2025 African Chiefs of Defense Conference in Nairobi on May 28. During the conference, senior military officials from across Africa discussed countering transnational threats, strengthening partnerships and sharing expertise. His remarks have been edited for length and clarity. For those of us in the defense community, the African Chiefs of Defense Conference has come to represent far more than a conference. It is a forum that enables us to align strategic thinking, strengthen our collective posture and reinforce the unity that underpins continental security.…

Nigerian Soldiers killed two top Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) leaders in as many weeks in May and June 2025 as part of the Army’s ongoing Operation Hadin Kai. On May 30, 2025, Army officials confirmed the death of Amir Abu Fatima, one of Nigeria’s most wanted terrorists. Soldiers killed Fatima and two top lieutenants in Aleru village in Borno State, according to Premium Times. Authorities said he was captured alive but soon bled to death from his wounds sustained in a gunbattle. Fatima was thought to have coordinated ISWAP attacks in northern Borno. Nigerian forces recovered AK-47 rifles,…

Ask experts for solutions to Africa’s many security challenges, and many are likely to call for more cooperation, training and professionalism for militaries. The path toward that goal leads through one of the continent’s many centers of excellence. Over the past 25 years or so, Africa has seen a boom in institutions designed to help military leaders understand and respond to key security issues such as artificial intelligence, counterterrorism, maritime security and empowering noncommissioned officers. The centers are designed to develop leadership, expertise and best practices in specific fields. Some, such as the Eastern Africa Police Chiefs Cooperation Organization, have…

When deadly floods swept through Gabarone, Botswana, in February 2025, the Botswana Defence Force swung into action, working alongside government agencies and nongovernmental organizations to protect the city’s residents and restore order. Soldiers employed their expertise in search and rescue, medical evacuation, and logistics to support their civilian counterparts during the natural disaster. For Maj. Gen. Molefi Seikano, the response was a model for civil-military relations among African nations. “It showed the military as a force for stability,” Seikano told ADF at the 2025 African Chiefs of Defense Conference (ACHOD), where civil-military relations were a topic of discussion. Across Africa,…