ADF

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…

A single road cuts through the Libyan desert from the coastal city of Benghazi to al-Uwaynat on the northwestern border of Sudan. It was that road, analysts say, that carried dozens of Colombian mercenaries to fight on the side of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in late 2024. Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) attacked the caravan in November using a drone to kill 22 Colombian fighters before they could join the RSF’s siege of el-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur state. North Darfur is the only state in western Sudan that remains out of the RSF’s control. According to the Colombian…

They disembarked buses and gathered in a long line at Rwanda’s Kigali International Airport. Some wore stern expressions, others laughed and made small talk. Some appeared to be in their 20s, others looked middle-aged. Most wore beards. The Democratic Republic of the Congo hired these Romanian mercenaries to help secure the country’s restive eastern region, where the M23 rebel group has made a violent resurgence. They were flying back home in early February, a couple of days after the M23 seized Goma, capital of the North Kivu province, following a bloody battle. One of the mercenaries told Rwandan newspaper New…

For decades, The Gambia has been a major source of African rosewood, which is prized by Chinese furniture makers for its significance as an indicator of wealth and nobility. Despite a 2022 government ban on all timber exports, The Gambia remains an important source of the millions of metric tons of rosewood China imports every year. Smugglers move the timber illegally harvested in southern Senegal’s Casamance region, shipping it from the port in The Gambia’s capital, Banjul, with the help of corrupt port authorities and police. “Things have got more difficult recently, but it’s not impossible if you have the…

Ghana’s government has unveiled a plan to empower its youthful population, which holds the key to the country’s economic development. It also could hold the key to keeping terrorism at bay. According to the World Data Lab, in 2024 an estimated 6.9 million people in northern Ghana lived in extreme poverty, defined at a threshold of living on or below $2.15 a day. Youth unemployment has risen across the country, and most of the employed have low-paying and unstable jobs that offer little or no long-term security. “This is a national security risk, and we must tackle it aggressively,” George…