ADF

UNITED NATIONS The transition to renewable energy in United Nations peacekeeping missions helps ensure the safety and security of uniformed personnel serving in the field, U.N. officials say. Speaking at the 2023 U.N. Peacekeeping Ministerial conference in Accra, Ghana, Under-Secretary-General Atul Khare said the shift to green energy in the field “is not just about environmental footprint,” as it helps to protect peacekeepers by reducing the need to transport fuel on dangerous roads. With proper energy management, operational resilience to withstand fuel shortages also is increased, meaning that missions can run core infrastructure even when fuel supplies cannot be delivered.…

The national police commissioner of South Africa hosted the commissioner of the Angola National Police on a seven-day working visit in January 2024. Angola’s police force wanted to share insight and knowledge on how the South African Police Service prevents and tackles transnational organized crime and emerging threats. South African Gen. Fannie Masemola hosted the delegation led by Angola National Police Commissioner Gen. Arnaldo Manuel Carlos. The visit is a continuation of a longstanding partnership that was fostered in 2017. The two police agencies signed a memorandum of understanding to enhance working relations to prevent and combat cross-border crimes such…

Defenceweb Uganda has entered a military cooperation agreement with a country that it shares no border with — the Central African Republic. Ugandan Minister of Defence and Veteran Affairs Vincent Ssempijja was reported by the Uganda Peoples’ Defence Forces as saying a memorandum of understanding has reiterated his country’s commitment to a Central African Republic military partnership. “Uganda has always been committed to promoting peace and stability in the region, and we strongly believe the best way to achieve this is through cooperation and collaboration with our neighbors,” he said after the signing in Kampala. “Our defense partnership with CAR…

ADF staff As part of what is being called a new generation of peacekeeping missions, the United Nations Security Council has unanimously adopted a resolution to help fund African Union-led peace support operations. U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres has endorsed the decision. On social media, he called the vote a “groundbreaking resolution” that will help address a “critical gap in the international peace and security architecture.” The U.N. issued a December 22, 2023, statement saying that, “Since the start of his mandate, the Secretary-General has repeatedly called for a new generation of Peace Support Operations led by African partners, with guaranteed…

ADF STAFF More than 4,000 years ago, the pharaohs of Egypt established a trading partnership with the prosperous Land of Punt. The Egyptians kept the location of the kingdom a secret. They would travel vast distances on land and sea to trade with the country, which they regarded as Ta Netjer — God’s Land. The earliest known direct references to Punt come from the Palmero Stone, a tablet that contains accounts of the ancient Egyptian dynasties. The stone’s inscriptions say that during the reign of King Sahure, about 2450 B.C., traders led a profitable expedition to Punt, returning with myrrh,…

CLUES The Roman Emperor Trajan established this ancient city as a military colony in A.D. 100. It is laid out with precision, illustrating the skill of Roman urban planning. Buildings and homes were built entirely of stone, and streets were paved with large, rectangular limestone slabs. Early Arab conquests in the seventh century destroyed the city, which was not inhabited after the eighth century. ANSWER  Timgad (Colonia Marciana Traiana Thamugadi), Algeria

ADF STAFF No one knows the dangerous, porous borderlands of Kenya and Somalia like its residents, and in the face of increasing terrorist attacks and recruitment, members of the community are coming together to protect themselves. A new initiative launched by Womankind Kenya, a Garissa-based nongovernmental organization (NGO) that focuses on women and children, aims to bolster stability on both sides of the border. Its goal is to bring communities together to communicate, collaborate and enhance their ability to resolve conflicts peacefully. In a social media post on May 29, Womankind Kenya Director Abdullahi Mohamed announced the launch of the…

ADF STAFF Authorities in the Central African Republic revoked a Chinese mining company’s license in the southern town of Mingala in June over concerns it was cooperating with armed militias. The CAR’s mining ministry accused Daqing SARL, a Chinese gold and diamond mining company, of sharing “intelligence with armed groups, illegal exploitation, illegal introduction of foreign subjects into mining areas, non-payment of taxes and lack of activity reports,” according to a government decree. Rebel groups in the CAR have long fought with Chinese and other foreign companies that seek to exploit the country’s abundant resources of gold and diamonds. The…

ADF STAFF The Tunisian Armed Forces are upgrading their primary training area at Ben Ghilouf with support from the United States. The upgrade is in its third phase, according to a report from Military Africa. It involves the construction of a new life support area, including seven barracks designed to house 630 people, and two mess halls capable of accommodating 430 people at a time. Earlier stages of the renovation included upgrading a training range, a new range observation tower, a canopy for tactical briefings and a helicopter landing zone. A new range operations center is designed to improve coordination…

ADF STAFF Four years after fighting ended in the southern suburbs of Tripoli, land mines and booby-trapped explosives continue to maim and kill civilians. Over the past five years, more than 400 people have been killed or injured by hidden explosives across Libya. At least 35 of those explosions were in 2023. The majority of the victims were children like 10-year-old Mohamed Farhat. Mohamed and his friends were playing in a garden near their home in southern Tripoli when they picked up a piece of what they thought was scrap metal. The explosion sent three of the friends to the…