ADF

A Turkish company Albayrak Group has signed a 20-year agreement to manage the Mogadishu port with promises to modernize it and oversee its growth. Outsourcing port operations is one more sign of Somalia’s slow rehabilitation, a dramatic shift from more than two decades of war in which clans battled for control of the nation’s most valuable asset and let its facilities decay. “If you come to the Mogadishu port at the moment, you will wonder if it is a market or a port,” said Abdirahman Omar Osman, an advisor to the Somali presidency. He described how porters rush to dhows and…

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE International donors pledged $8 billion in development aid for projects across eight countries in the Horn of Africa, United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon announced at the start of a visit to the region in October 2014. The aid, from organizations including the World Bank, African Development Bank, European Union and Islamic Development Bank, will support efforts to boost economies and stem conflict and hunger across the volatile region. Countries targeted are Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan and Uganda. “The countries of the Horn of Africa are making important, yet unheralded, progress in economic growth and…

DEFENCEWEB French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian has announced his country’s intention to deploy more than 3,000 Soldiers to begin military operations under a broadened trans-Sahel counter-terrorism initiative set to operate from bases in Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger. The regional force will have its main air force base in the Chadian capital, N’Djamena; a regional operations base in the Malian city of Gao; a special forces base in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso; and an intelligence base in the Nigerien capital, Niamey. Code-named Operation Barkhane, the operation seeks to track down and disrupt Islamist trans-Sahel jihadist militant networks that…

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE Ugandan security forces stopped a cell of Somalia’s al-Shabaab insurgents in the nation’s capital that was planning an imminent attack. Police arrested people in September 2014 in raids two weeks after Ugandan troops, fighting in Somalia, reportedly provided intelligence that helped U.S. special forces kill al-Shabaab chief Ahmed Abdi Godane in an air strike. “Joint security agencies in Uganda have foiled a terrorist attempt at one of its installations,” police spokesman Fred Enanga said without giving further information. Security forces have boosted patrols around major sites, the U.S. said in a warning statement to its citizens in the…

DEFENCEWEB A reconnaissance light aircraft built by a South African company has made its maiden flight and has become the first military aircraft fully designed and built in Africa. A product of the Paramount Group, the Advanced High-Performance Reconnaissance Light Aircraft (AHRLAC) is expected to fly 100 to 200 hours under normal and difficult conditions during initial testing. AHRLAC is designed for military and civilian missions, and can carry surveillance, weapons, radar and electronic warfare systems. “AHRLAC is a homegrown, world-class capability that will enable developing countries and advanced nations to strengthen and diversify their security infrastructure,” said Paramount founder Ivor…

The Nigerian Navy announced that crude oil theft fell 67 percent in 2014. Rear Adm. Charles Obiora-Medani, flag officer of Eastern Naval Command, said theft dropped from about 2.6 million barrels per month in January to about 800,000 barrels per month in September. He made the announcement in Calabar, in the east of the country, while inspecting naval formations, the daily newspaper This Day reported. He said the reduction is due, in large part, to increased naval patrols on the Calabar-Oron and Ikang waterways. “Our effective patrol has made it impossible for sea robbers to attack oil service vessels and…

ECOWAS Defense chiefs from across the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) have pledged greater cooperation to combat shared threats. The September 2014 meeting of the Committee of Chiefs of Defence Staff (CCDS) in Accra, Ghana, brought together 15 defense leaders for a three-day summit themed “Strengthening ECOWAS Military Cooperation for Peace, Stability and Development.” Officials called for greater intelligence sharing among member states and more training in counterinsurgency to bolster Nigerian security. “Boko Haram has created mayhem in Nigeria and needs to be stopped,” said Ambassador Kwesi Quartey, Ghana’s deputy minister of foreign affairs and regional integration. “Africa…

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE With camouflage uniforms, assault rifles, night vision goggles, thermal imaging devices and radios, wildlife rangers in Kenya’s Ol Jogi rhino sanctuary prepare for night patrol in the “war” against poaching. “It sounds crazy, but it’s actually a war,” said Jamie Gaymer, head of security for the vast sanctuary. “It is organized crime on an international level, and it is completely out of control. And these are the guys on the front line who are having to put their lives at risk in order to protect these animals.” Through the thick bush, 20 men from the local community head…

ADAM BEMMA/IPS Along the fertile banks of the White Nile, a war veteran’s co-op is planting for a food-secure future in South Sudan, a country potentially facing famine. Wilson Abisai Lodingareng, 65, is a farmer and founder of Werithior Veterans’ Association (WVA) in Juba, South Sudan. The association is a group of 15 farmers that tends a garden 6 kilometers outside Juba where they grow vegetables on nearly 1.5 hectares. “I have seven active members in the group, all former SPLA [Sudan People’s Liberation Army] troops,” Lodingareng said. “I call them when it’s time to weed the garden. I visit…

Story and photo by JOAN ERAKIT/IPS Dry, hot and often plagued with sandstorms, Niger has a population of more than 17.2 million. Insecurity, drought and cross-border crime contribute to this West African nation’s fragility, in which only 50 percent of its citizens have access to health services. Traditional chiefs in Niger are extremely influential leaders — even heads of state and presidents seek their counsel before making big decisions. Understanding the chiefs’ role, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has built a partnership promoting the health and rights of women. The country has the world’s highest birthrate and a high…