ADF

Sahel terror groups  have long used forests to hide, stock up on natural resources and establish bases. Increasingly, these groups are using forests for recruitment, financing, smuggling, logistics and organizing parallel governance, according to the Observer Research Foundation (ORF). Analysts say the use of forests has led to the rapid expansion of terrorist violence across the Sahel and into new areas in West Africa from groups such as the al-Qaida-linked Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM), the Islamic State Sahel Province (ISSP) and Boko Haram. In February, the Boko Haram-affiliated Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati wal-Jihad, or JAS, terror group killed nearly…

Known across social media platforms as “lion cubs” (“shibli” in Arabic), child soldiers have become a recruitment tool for both sides in Sudan’s civil war in violation of international law. “They’ve become famous, almost equivalent to Disney child stars in the U.S., where everybody knows their name,” analyst Mia Bloom recently told the British open-source investigative cooperative Bellingcat. Bloom, a professor of communication and Middle East studies at Georgia State University, is a leading expert on armed groups’ exploitation and recruitment of children. She added that child soldiers become powerful tools for recruiting adults and young people into armed groups.…

Russia’s war in Ukraine has drained its weapons supplies, including some slated for export to Africa. China has filled this vacuum by supplying low-cost weapons to countries with a track record of human right abuses and other offenses. In 2024, China eclipsed Russia as the largest exporter of arms to Sub-Saharan Africa. Beijing’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and Chinese private security companies facilitate the flow of arms. Chinese deals are not governed by International Traffic in Arms regulations, and Beijing is known to include weapons to sweeten other deals or improve diplomatic and trade relations as it makes new allies…

Too often peacebuilding efforts leave out the group with the biggest stake in the continent’s future: its young people. But that is starting to change. Africa’s first generation of citizens to grow up with the internet is using its digital know-how and familiarity with the online environment to build systems aimed at countering false information, preventing conflict and working toward peaceful solutions to chronic problems. “Today, constant access to social media and online platforms enables youth to mobilize their communities, participate directly in peace processes outside formal hierarchies and exercise agency in digital spaces,” researcher Emmaculate A Liaga wrote recently…

As foreign powers sign business deals and deepen diplomatic ties in Africa, one foreign player operates mostly behind the scenes: Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). “The IRGC, the regime’s military-intelligence empire, has spent forty years constructing a shadow network across Africa, embedding itself in local conflicts, recruiting ideological loyalists, arming insurgent movements, and turning entire regions into extensions of Tehran’s strategic project,” according to a blog post by Iranian-born journalist Shabnam Assadollahi. The group’s many efforts include ideological indoctrination in northern Nigeria, arms smuggling in Sudan and terror plots elsewhere. The seeds of IRGC influence in Nigeria can be…

In the defense sector, the threat and promise of artificial intelligence is everywhere. AI-powered facial recognition can identify a terrorist in a crowded train station. AI-enabled satellite surveillance can find an insurgent hideout in a vast desert. The technology can spot an illegal fishing boat based on its movement or even predict vehicle breakdowns before they occur. Perhaps the most attention-grabbing aspect is the use of AI-controlled weapons to select a target and apply force without a human operator. In light of this AI explosion, the Africa Center for Strategic Studies created an “AI Toolkit” for Africa’s defense professionals. The…

In the past year and a half, South African police have busted three industrial-scale drug labs where they found more than $151 million worth of crystal methamphetamine, known locally as tik. Among the men they apprehended were eight Mexican nationals. South Africa is one of several African countries experiencing a structural shift in global drug-trafficking tactics with production moving closer to consumer destinations to cut down on cross-border risk. Mexican criminal organizations are playing a key role in African manufacturing operations in South Africa and Nigeria, where industrial meth labs that emerged from 2016 were allegedly developed in collaboration with…

Terrorist groups in Nigeria’s northeastern states are expanding their use of commercial, off-the-shelf drones (COTS), escalating their ability to attack military compounds and civilian targets in Borno and Yobe states. Over the weekend beginning February 28, Nigerian Soldiers repelled Boko Haram attacks against three forward operating bases in the region. After killing 10 terrorists, Soldiers recovered a variety of weapons, including armed drones. Nigeria’s Premium Times reported earlier this year that Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) terrorists acquired 35 quadcopter drones transported through smuggling routes in the Lake Chad basin. “If ISWAP and other terrorist groups can obtain drones…

With the threat of terrorist groups such as al-Shabaab and the Islamic State continuing to loom over East Africa, regional partnership and tactical readiness were the focus for more than 1,500 military personnel gathered for the launch of Exercise Justified Accord in host countries Djibouti, Kenya and Tanzania on February 23. The largest annual multinational training exercise in East Africa, Justified Accord is conducted in partnership with United States Africa Command (AFRICOM) and the Southern European Task Force, Africa (SETAF-AF). “This exercise embodies the principle of collective defense, creating an impenetrable shield against those who seek to destabilize our shared…

Russian mercenaries have taken control of the border zone shared by the Central African Republic, South Sudan and Sudan, effectively turning a region known for its gold mines into a “gray zone” controlled by a private military corporation. Russia’s Lobaye Invest, which is affiliated with the Wagner Group, controls mining operations in eastern CAR. With little to no state presence in that region, Russian mercenaries have established draconian rules on the miners working there: no hunting, no possessing weapons, and no using motorcycles within the mining zone. Several weeks ago, a miner at the Baba mine captured a gazelle that…