ADF

Allan Kudumoch Agon had his childhood stolen from him when he was forced to fight as a child soldier. Now 21, he is trying to help others avoid the same fate. During an event commemorating the International Day against the Use of Child Soldiers, or Red Hand Day, in Juba, Agon recounted how his father was killed during the South Sudanese civil war that ended in 2020. At 8, he was left in the care of his elderly grandmother, but he was soon sent into the bush, where he and other children were trained to fight. “Being a child soldier…

Recent victories have given the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) control over several key regions of Sudan, including the states of al-Jazira and North Kordofan along with parts of Khartoum. Despite those victories over the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), civilians worry that SAF fighters will launch reprisal attacks against them. “We have seen in the past how the SAF and their allied militia have killed or arrested anyone labeled as RSF collaborators, including small business owners or volunteers in humanitarian Emergency Response Rooms and other activists and civilians,” said Tigere Chagutah, Amnesty International’s regional director for East and Southern Africa. “These…

The threats of terrorism, piracy, smuggling and trafficking in East Africa loomed over Exercise Cutlass Express, which urged more than 1,000 participants from 20 nations to forge closer ties in the Western Indian Ocean. Participants trained to expand their capacity and capability for multinational maritime security operations throughout the 15th iteration of the event. Sponsored by U.S. Africa Command and facilitated by the U.S. 6th Fleet, it took place from February 10 to 21 in  Mauritius, the Seychelles and Tanzania. Maj. Gen. Ibrahim Mhona, chief of Training and Combat Readiness for the Tanzania People’s Defence Force (TPDF), said the event…

There are signs of hope that Libya can be stitched back together after years of war. Military leaders from the Tripoli-based Government of National Unity (GNU) and the Benghazi-based House of Representatives have agreed to meet and do more to create a unified military structure. AFRICOM Deputy Commander Lt. Gen. John Brennan and U.S. Chargé d’Affaires to Libya Jeremy Berndt, were part of the delegation that traveled to Tripoli, Sirte and Benghazi to meet with civilian and military leaders. “A stronger and more unified Libya is better for the people of Libya and for regional security,” Brennan said in a…

Somalia is warning business owners and private citizens against paying money to al-Shabaab as the government seeks to undermine the system the terrorist group uses to funds its operations. Experts estimate that al-Shabaab needs $100 million a year to arm and pay fighters, build bombs, and carry out attacks in Mogadishu and elsewhere. Somalia’s national budget is $250 million by comparison. The al-Qaida affiliate accumulates that enormous amount of money through a complex web of crimes, including extorting shippers at the country’s ports, posting checkpoints on major roads, blocking roads to force travelers to travel through al-Shabaab-controlled communities, and forcing…

Due to persistent illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing by China and other foreign fleets, stocks of Somalia’s yellowfin tuna are facing a collapse that could devastate the economy and affect food security. IUU fishing costs Somalia $300 million annually and threatens the livelihoods of up to 90,000 artisanal fishermen. China’s Liao Dong Yu distant-water fishing fleet, particularly, has operated illegally in Somali waters since at least 2019 and is illegally overfishing yellowfin tuna, one of the world’s most commercially valuable species. At least four of the fleet’s vessels have pillaged Somali waters, according to the Global Initiative Against Transnational…

A member of the Kenya Defense Forces (KDF) walked to the entrance of Archer’s Post Sub-County Hospital and called out the number 113. A young mother with a baby on her back rose and approached from a tent outside. She seemed hesitant about getting medical treatment from medics with the KDF and U.S. Army but smiled as she was received. The woman was one of hundreds of Kenyans, including residents of distant villages and members of nomadic tribes, who received medical treatment during exercise Justified Accord 2025 (JA25). “The purpose of this exercise was to have a medical outreach to the…

As the Sahel’s three junta-led governments increasingly turn inward, their absence from regional organizations is hampering counterterrorism efforts across West Africa, according to analysts. Struggling to contain insurgencies within and across their borders, Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger in January officially exited the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), one mechanism through which the region pursued a cooperative approach to fighting terrorism. That same month, Niger announced it was pausing its cooperation with the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) that fights Boko Haram and its offshoot, Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) in the Lake Chad Basin. Both decisions…

Rwandan-backed M23 rebels are bringing chaos to the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) as they continue to seize strategic cities and tighten their grip on a region staggering toward the brink of war. The group captured Goma, the capital of North Kivu province, in late January, announcing a new offensive with overwhelming force. After seizing the airport just outside Bukavu, the capital of South Kivu province, on February 14, the rebels entered the city center two days later. “It was around 6 a.m., and they entered triumphantly, without encountering any resistance,” a resident told Le Monde on condition…

A sustained Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) offensive has reclaimed areas of Sudan controlled by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Khartoum State and North Darfur State. On February 19, the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) said it killed 33 RSF fighters northeast of the strategic North Darfur town of el-Fasher, capital of North Darfur State. That day, the RSF also bombed el-Fasher, killing at least 10 people, injuring dozens and burning several houses. This caused about 10,000 families to flee to a neighboring camp for displaced people. El-Fasher has been under siege by the RSF since May 2024. “The countdown…