ADF

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE Can robots ease traffic chaos in the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo? A small cooperative, which developed the solution and is testing two robots, thinks so. And it wants to promote the concept across the country, Africa and the world. Kinshasa, a city of 10 million people, has a reputation for chaotic driving and huge traffic jams. Tricolor traffic lights are rare, many cars are old and battered, and not all drivers are mindful of road rules. “When the robot stops the traffic, you can see that everybody stops and the pedestrians can cross without…

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE Mandla Maseko, 25, of the Mabopane district near Pretoria, South Africa, will fly 103 kilometers into space in 2015 after winning a competition organized by a United States-based space academy. He beat 1 million other entrants from 75 countries to be selected as one of 23 people who will travel on an hourlong suborbital trip on the Lynx Mark II spaceship. The former civil engineering student will experience zero gravity and a journey that normally costs $100,000. Maseko, who still lives at home with his parents and four siblings, was named one of the winners on December 5,…

Taking Time to Engage Civilian Leaders Can Build Partnerships that Enhance Security The village of Gofat spreads out beyond the rocky crags that punctuate the southernmost sands of the Sahara in Niger. More than 1,000 people call it home, but the population shifts like the desert wind — at times topping 3,000 people, depending on the season. As the sun peeked above the horizon on February 27, 2014, a convoy of Soldiers, supplies and medical personnel made the lonesome drive into the village, 27 kilometers northeast of Agadez. They spent the day offering medical help to villagers and others from…

A Nigerien Colonel Stresses the Importance of Civilian Help in the Fight Against Extremism ADF STAFF Col. Mahamane Laminou Sani is director of military intelligence for the Nigerien Army (forces armées nigériennes — FAN) and is based in Niamey, Niger. He coordinated military and civilian activities at Exercise Flintlock 2014, which was held at four locations throughout Niger. Col. Sani sat down with ADF for a talk on March 1, 2014. The interview was conducted in English, and it has been edited for length and clarity. ADF: What things have stood out as being some of the high points of…

Cessna 208 Flight Crews Use New Skills to Save a Life ADF STAFF The annual Festival de L’Aïr in Iférouane, Niger, draws crowds from throughout the nation’s northern region. Those attending the event celebrated rich Tuareg culture with music, singing and dancing. Two men on their way to the festival never made it. Their SUV ran over an old land mine about 1 p.m. February 22. The blast tore through the SUV and amputated one man’s foot. The other passenger suffered trauma from the impact. Fortunately, two Nigerien military Cessna 208 airplanes were at an airstrip near the festival, and…

Adf staff A young boy sits on a stool, stares at a chalkboard, and writes in his notebook. His classroom is the porch of a home built during French colonial times in Bangui, Central African Republic (CAR). His improvised school makes him more fortunate than many children in the nation. As hundreds of thousands of people have fled their homes since unrest spread across the land, schooling has become a casualty. The CAR has been in turmoil since December 2012, when rebels overran the north and central regions. A March 2013 coup brought Michel Djotodia to power, and the country suffered…

The Electronic Revolution Is Bringing Rapid Change to the Continent, in Good and Bad Ways Dr. Eric Young, George C. Marshall Center Faculty As the electronic revolution sweeps across Africa, cyber security is a major emerging challenge. Africa has the fastest-growing Internet penetration and growth in cyberspace of any continent and is erasing the global digital divide. Africa’s e-revolution is growing economies, changing social structures and upending political systems. Masaai ranchers in Kenya now can check market prices for their cattle on mobile phones. Africa’s new undersea fiber-optic cables, which offer high-speed Internet access, are leading an entrepreneurial boom in Kenya…

Chadian Troops Partner with U.S. and French Trainers to Prepare for Peacekeeping in Mali ADF STAFF When Lt. Col. Jeffrey Powell and his team of 68 trainers arrived in Chad, conditions were less than ideal. They faced heat, equipment shortages, language barriers and an aggressive deadline of 32 days. Powell, a member of the U.S. Army’s 5th Squadron, 4th Cavalry Regiment, was there to partner with a French defense contracting company and Chadian military trainers to prepare 1,425 Chadian Soldiers for deployment as part of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA). At an outpost 80 kilometers…

Mauritania’s chief of General Staff of the Armed Forces tells ADF how his country seeks to offer stability in a troubled region. During the week of May 19, 2014, Lt. Gen. Mohamed Ghazouani, Mauritania’s chief of General Staff of the Armed Forces, traveled to Tampa, Florida, in the United States, to attend the Special Operations Forces Industry Conference. While at the conference, Ghazouani participated in events alongside special operations commanders from 84 countries, as well as senior governmental officials, top academics and leaders from U.S. Special Operations Command. Ghazouani has served in a variety of roles in Mauritania’s security sector,…

Nigeria’s College Includes a ‘Think Tank’ for Research ADF STAFF First came battle command, the science of directing and leading armed forces against an enemy. Battle command was the core curriculum of the first military staff colleges, also known as war colleges or defense colleges. The first modern staff college dates to 1810 and focused largely on military strategy. But Africa’s staff colleges, among the youngest in the world, have evolved far beyond the study of the art of war. Nigeria’s National Defence College (NDC) is a case in point. Although its 11-month program includes the traditional training of senior…