ADF

Terrorists have resumed attacks in northern districts of Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado province, relying on improvised explosive devices (IEDs) to limit the movements of Mozambican and Rwandan military forces. The Islamic State Mozambique stepped up its IED attacks in June, according to a report by the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data project (ACLED). “After two months in southern Cabo Delgado, Islamic State Mozambique (ISM) insurgents have begun to return to bases in Macomia,” ACLED reported. ACLED researchers first reported the terrorist group using IEDs in 2021. Since then, their records show 45 IED incidents, including 35 in the Macomia and…

Burkinabe Imam Mohamed Ishaq Kindo spoke publicly in May against proposed legislation meant to restrict religious freedom. The military junta led by Capt. Ibrahim Traoré jailed him days later. It was a typical response by a regime that has abducted journalists, suspended media outlets, and silenced critics with torture and forced conscription. Exiled Burkinabe journalist Newton Ahmed Barry said the arrest of civilians such as Kindo, a prominent Sunni leader, underscore the government’s controlling strategy. “This is the logic of this junta and its leader: The more people are afraid, the more they buy their way out of trouble,” Barry told…

African countries share many challenges that no single country can solve alone, from terrorism and drug trafficking to illegal fishing and weak border security. As they confront those challenges, nations often struggle to deploy their most effective weapon: trust. Without trust, the cross-border cooperation and regional collaboration required to meet those challenges will always fall short, according to military leaders who gathered in Luanda, Angola, for the African Chiefs of Defense (ACHOD) conference. The conference serves as the key forum for senior military officials to address shared security threats, improve regional stability and discuss collaborative frameworks that enable long-term investment…

China has invested $50 billion in African port infrastructure since 2013 and Beijing has either financed, built, has a stake in, or controls operations of an estimated 78 trade ports in 32 African countries. These investments, from the Mediterranean Sea to the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, are part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative, include port enhancements and improvements to  railways and industrial zones. This has helped increase continental trade with China, but analysts have warned that high debt tied to murky deals risks African sovereignty and the possibility of Beijing intertwining its investments with military purposes and intelligence-gathering. African…

The United Nations has marked a historic milestone with the handover of seven military bases in the Central African Republic to local government and security forces. During a ceremony on June 10 in Mbaïki, Valentine Rugwabiza, the chief of the U.N. Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA), said the transfer is about much more than brick-and-mortar buildings. “We are transferring the tasks performed by MINUSCA to national authorities in the zones,” she said. This, she added, includes, “providing security, protecting civilians, supporting civil authorities and maintaining access roads.” MINUSCA was established in 2014 during a crisis that left much…

In one week in May, the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) went from being the most active wing of the global Islamic State group, claiming more attacks than any other affiliate, to an organization in crisis. After months of intelligence gathering, the joint forces of Nigeria and the United States conducted a nighttime raid on May 16 that killed Abu-Bilal al-Minuki, one of the group’s most senior leaders, in a hidden compound near the town of Metele in the Lake Chad Basin. The highly coordinated assault also eliminated some of the group’s other top leaders and destroyed critical logistical…

Mali’s Kayes-Bamako corridor from Senegal plays a central role in Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin’s ongoing blockade of truck traffic into Mali, which has economic implications for the entirety of West Africa, particularly those countries bordering Mali. Since September 2025, terrorists have burned hundreds of trucks entering the country from Senegal as well as Côte d’Ivoire and Guinea. Experts describe the blockade as economic warfare designed to disrupt life in the capital and undermine faith in the junta that has ruled the country since overthrowing the democratically elected government in 2021. So far, the blockade has sharply reduced the amount of…

Russia has waged war on Ukraine for more than four years with no end in sight. But experts say that when the fighting does end, arms and soldiers who have expertise in drone warfare could flood into conflict zones around the world. Researchers Will Brown and Lena Krause of the European Council on Foreign Relations warn that a huge stockpile of weapons and battle-tested military contractors will hit global markets and are likely to end up on the African continent. “If history is anything to judge by, African countries will absorb a sizeable amount of this surplus, significantly increasing the…

The Nigerian Senate on June 24 passed a bill that will decentralize state police forces if approved by at least 24 of the country’s 36 Houses of Assembly. The proposed constitutional amendment reportedly enjoys broad support amid evolving security challenges that test the capacity of the country’s security forces, particularly in rural areas. The amendment would replace Nigeria’s central policing structure with a dual system involving a federal police service and independently administered state police services. Senate Leader Opeyemi Bamidele said the vote came after years of consultations, public hearings and stakeholder engagements across the country. “The state police bill…

Sexual violence committed by combatants in Sudan’s civil war is increasing as the fighting spreads and intensifies. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) recently reported that 546 such incidents involving at least 838 victims have been documented since the war began in April 2023; all but 15 of the victims were women and girls. More than 25% of the incidents involved gang rape, including an instance in which one victim was raped by at least 10 attackers. “Women and girls are being raped and killed in their homes, and as they flee, seek food, water…