ADF

Morocco’s Royal Armed Forces (FAR) has deployed an advanced cyber defense platform to strengthen its real-time threat detection, automated incident response and digital forensics capabilities. The Garda Cyber Command Suite, developed by Lyntris, a United States technology company, uses artificial intelligence (AI) to evaluate threats to network infrastructure and recognize likely attack patterns. The system merges sensors, radar and electro-optical devices into a single operational picture. Armenia and Taiwan also use it. The Garda system was developed to ensure that a nation’s network systems can function properly, even in areas with degraded or interrupted communications. This is important for militaries that…

The state-controlled Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) has invested millions of dollars in projects across Africa. A new report says the bank has made loans despite ignoring corruption among the countries receiving them while also aligning its investments with China’s political goals for the continent. The report, “China Capital,” by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, reviewed nearly 5 million internal documents from 2005 to 2024 held at the bank’s London offices to identify the way the ICBC courted high-risk borrowers in Africa and elsewhere to secure resources and alliances for China. Among the documents were instructions from…

Terrorists historically have been quick to adopt emerging technology. Artificial intelligence is no exception. New research indicates that terrorist groups in Nigeria are using AI to plan and execute deadly attacks. A report from Cambridge University, based on in-person interviews with dozens of former members of Boko Haram and the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), revealed the extent to which the groups use AI tools such as ChatGPT, Claude, DeepSeek, Gemini, Grok and Meta AI for instructions and guidance. “This AI use is institutionalized through specialized units and internal training,” said Antonia Juelich, a technology and terrorism researcher at…

Russia needs manpower to support its invasion of Ukraine and has implemented an elaborate recruitment campaign to lure young Africans to the frontlines. In Zimbabwe, the Kremlin’s syndicates have tapped former Zimbabwean military, police and intelligence personnel to help recruit and lightly train young people for deployment, Zimbabwe’s Bulawayo 24 News reported. Lured by online advertisements, potential recruits are offered $7,000 to $10,000 salaries with travel-related expenses paid upfront. Vetting and basic tactical training are allegedly being conducted by former military personnel in Bulawayo, Harare and Masvingo. A senior Zimbabwe National Army officer said former colleagues were approached in 2024…

There is an information war being fought in Mali online and on social media platforms. A new study outlines how generative artificial intelligence is being used by state, nonstate and foreign entities to push propaganda and misinformation. A September 9 report by the Dakar-based Timbuktu Institute, titled “Algorithms at War: How Generative AI is Reshaping the Malian Conflict,” examined al-Qaida affiliate Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM), the Malian government, Russia’s Africa Corps and the Tuareg separatist group Azawad Liberation Front (FLA). “It is entirely possible that Mali could become a veritable laboratory for AI-assisted information warfare,” the report stated. “While…

Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) amasses an estimated $100 million a year through a web of illicit activities that illustrates the way terrorism, organized crime and public corruption are connected. “Make no mistake, today illicit economies in the Sahel and West Africa are interlinked criminalities across borders,” David M. Luna, executive director of the International Coalition Against Illicit Economies (ICAIE), told a recent webinar hosted by the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU). Porous borders, rapidly expanding digital technology, and a lack of security in so-called ungoverned spaces across Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger and Nigeria, for example, allow criminal operations to…

Gold mining, a major funding source for the war in Sudan, has spread into some of the country’s agricultural areas, poisoning crops, livestock and people with toxic byproducts. In River Nile State, north of Khartoum, farmers report dramatic drops in the production of staple crops such as wheat and fava beans. At the same time, cattle farmers are seeing birth defects and indications that adult livestock are being poisoned, possibly with mercury. Even more troubling, miscarriages and birth defects are rising among women in the region, according to local doctors. River Nile State has long been among Sudan’s most active…

A series of recent arrests highlights the trend of Mexican drug cartels manufacturing methamphetamine in Nigeria and other areas. Analysts say the Sinaloa and Jalisco New Generation (CJNG) cartels are sending their own chemists to produce meth. They are also accused of funding terrorists, armed groups and criminal gangs that help them produce and move the drugs in a franchise-like business model. On August 19, Nigerian authorities arrested Arturo Carrera Loaiza, a 40-year-old Mexican national, at Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos as he tried to leave the country. Officials said they found digital images of equipment consistent with methamphetamine…

When terrorists attacked Bamako and Niamey earlier this year, the military leaders of Niger and Mali did not turn to their own troops or their newly created Alliance of Sahel States standby force. Instead, they asked for assistance from Africa Corps mercenaries. Security experts say this reveals a dependence on Russia by junta leaders who claim to be seeking independence from foreign powers. “The major concern lies in what this level of dependence does to the cohesion and sovereignty of Russia’s vulnerable client states,” researcher Zikora Ibeh wrote in a September 11 article for International Politics and Society magazine. “As…

In July and August, more than 800 Rapid Support Forces (RSF) fighters and commanders defected from the Sudanese paramilitary group and declared their allegiance to the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), potentially shifting the balance of power in the country. After years of failed international efforts to reach a peaceful settlement to the war, SAF leader Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, has put his support behind a homegrown proposal for a national dialogue aimed at ending the fighting. In July, al-Burhan met with leaders of the Democratic Bloc, alongside a joint gathering of the National Umma Party and the Democratic Unionist Party-Original.…