ADF

Since arriving in Mali almost four years ago, Russia’s Wagner Group mercenaries have kidnapped, imprisoned and tortured hundreds of Malian civilians in conjunction with the country’s ruling junta. Some of those captured were held for ransom before being released to local police. Many of those in the hands of Wagner are members of the Fulani community, which has been repeatedly targeted for attacks by Soldiers and mercenaries. “Civilians have been deliberately targeted since Wagner’s arrival,” Yvan Guichaoua, a researcher at the Bonn International Centre for Conflict Studies, told investigators with the media group Forbidden Stories. “Security forces tend to view…

Zimbabwe lost one of its most experienced pilots, Ritswanetsi Vuyo Ncube, when his fighter jet crashed during what the Air Force called a “routine sortie” near the city of Gweru on May 30. In his final communication with ground control, he shouted “fire” and “aircraft uncontrollable,” an Air Force of Zimbabwe (AFZ) source told news website ZimLive. A veteran of the Second Congo War, Ncube was a retired squadron leader who rejoined the Air Force as a trainer. His death underscores the Air Force’s ongoing struggles with an aging fleet and a lack of funding, training and maintenance. “A dark…

In 2024, a United Nations monitoring team reported that the relationship between Somalia’s al-Shabaab terrorist group and Yemen’s Houthi rebels was “transactional or opportunistic, and not ideological.” In a 2025 report, the U.N. said those ties are deepening and pose a growing security threat to the Horn of Africa and Red Sea regions. “The flow of weapons from Yemen to al-Shabaab-controlled areas in Somalia continued,” the February 6 report stated. “Between June to September (2024), al-Shabaab received assorted arms, ammunition and explosives through the ports of Marka and Baraawe in [Lower] Shabelle. “The weapons were assessed to have been used…

Boko Haram terrorists have turned to cryptocurrencies, mobile money platforms and other digital tools to transfer millions of dollars, much of which it acquires using ransoms, looting and extorted cash “donations” known as zakat. Observers describe cryptocurrency and other digital financing methods as a “blind spot” in the fight against terrorism. “Boko Haram leverages cryptocurrency’s decentralized nature to fund its low-cost but deadly operations, including weapons and logistics,” analyst Oge Samuel Okonkwo wrote recently for the website Medium. “Nigeria’s robust crypto market, driven by economic necessity, facilitates this threat.” By some estimates, about a third of Nigeria’s 200 million people…

In a propaganda video entitled “Empowerment Generation,” terrorists with Islamic State West Africa Province show scenes from a training camp in northeastern Nigeria. The video includes aerial views filmed using off-the-shelf quadcopter drones. Unmanned aerial systems (UAS), known as drones, have become indispensable tools for government troops and terrorist groups across Africa due to their low cost, ease of operation and payload flexibility. Although terrorist groups are increasingly weaponizing drones in kamikaze-style attacks against enemy targets, they also are using them to create propaganda videos for recruitment. Rather than dive-bomb a target, some drones hover above the battlefield, capturing footage…

The Chinese term fei chien, which translates to “flying money,” refers to an underground financial system with no paper trail that dates back to the Tang dynasty in the ninth century, when traders established a network to settle accounts without carrying coins over long distances. The ancient Chinese scheme still exists today. Experts say it is the primary method of laundering immense amounts of cash linked to wildlife trafficking and the smuggling of illicit minerals and other natural resources. Traditional Chinese medicine is a leading driver of the illicit wildlife trade worldwide. “Flying money is often used to denote Chinese…

Malian journalist Seydou Oumar Traoré on May 26 was arrested for criticizing Guinea’s transitional president, Gen. Mamady Doumbouya, marking a continuing trend of jailing Malian critics of regional juntas. Traoré, who had just returned from an official mission to Kidal as part of the Malian Minister of Defense’s delegation, claimed in a viral social media video that Doumbouya had “betrayed the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) by collaborating with Western countries to host terrorist bases on Guinean soil.” Traoré’s trial is scheduled to begin July 10, according to West Africa Democracy Radio. He has apologized to Doumbouya. His detention marked the second…

At more than 42,000 square kilometers, Niassa Special Reserve is the largest protected area in Mozambique and holds the most wildlife of anywhere in the country. In an area bigger than Switzerland, elephants, buffalo, wild dogs and one of the world’s seven largest lion populations roam freely. There are other dangerous predators. The Islamic State group in Mozambique (ISM), most active in neighboring Cabo Delgado province, has been known to retreat to the huge forested park. A recent spate of attacks in which ISM fighters killed at least 10 people has shaken to the core those who live and work…

Practitioners of galamsey, Ghana’s illegal small-scale mining epidemic, once used picks and shovels to extract gold and other minerals from the earth, but the industry is evolving and growing more violent. According to Ghanaian newspaper The Daily Graphic, some illegal miners now are allied with transnational crime networks, which helps them procure military-grade weapons, such as AK-47 rifles and drones, and excavators, industrial equipment and encrypted communication systems. Many illegal miners now operate out of fortified camps with trenches, watchtowers and armed patrols, turning galamsey into a more lethal vocation. Between 2020 and 2023, clashes with armed galamsey groups killed…

Ejiao is considered a miracle elixir for those who use it. However, it has become a disaster for Africa’s donkeys and the communities that rely on them. The Chinese demand for donkey skins and meat fuels a black market in several African countries. Those markets benefit transnational organized criminal groups, which rely on lax regulations, public corruption and porous borders to traffic in skins. Gelatin made by boiling donkey skins forms the basis for ejiao (pronounced “eh-gee-yow”), which users take as a treatment for anemia and other blood disorders. The demand for ejiao in China has decimated that nation’s donkey…