ADF

ADF STAFF Dozens of Soldiers streamed into the airport terminal in northern Ghana with helicopters circling overhead and smoke grenades providing cover. The dramatic simulated raid in Tamale was the climax of this year’s 11-day Exercise Flintlock and led into the closing ceremony on May 24. Ghana’s Maj. Gen. Bismarck Kwasi Onwona, chief of the Army Staff, acknowledged that terrorism has gradually spread to West Africa’s coastal regions but was quick to express confidence in the collaboration fostered during the exercise. “Flintlock 2024 is an opportunity for African nations to partner with countries like the United States and other international…

ADF STAFF With extremists sowing chaos all around it, Ghana remains an island of calm. However, observers say conditions in the country’s northern regions may put that stability at risk. In Bawku and other communities along Ghana’s north, weapons and contraband flow freely across the porous border with Burkina Faso, where terrorists control nearly half of the country. For example, Ghanaian-made dynamite has turned up among militant camps in Burkina Faso. “Ghana is not a hotbed of recruitment, but there have been some notable cases,” researchers Eliasu Tanko and James Courtright wrote recently in Foreign Policy magazine. In 2021, for…

ADF STAFF U.S. and Nigerien officials have agreed on a timeline for the withdrawal of U.S. troops and opened the door for future collaboration between the two countries on development and security issues. After five days of discussions, the two sides issued a joint statement saying that U.S. service members will leave the country by September 15. Delegations from the countries agreed to procedures that allow for the entry and exit of U.S. personnel, including flight clearances. Niger confirmed it will guarantee the security of U.S. forces during the withdrawal. At the end of the meetings, both sides recognized more…

ADF STAFF Images recently published online reveal that both sides in Sudan’s yearlong conflict have armed their fighters with Iranian anti-tank missiles. The exact source of the Saeghe anti-tank guided missile system (ATGMS) remains unclear. Sudan’s state-owned weapons maker manufactured the systems for many years, leading some analysts to speculate that — in the case of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) — the weapons may have been looted from captured military bases. Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) leaders have denied receiving weapons from Iran, but refused to say where they came from. Sudan renewed its ties with Iran in October 2023…

ADF STAFF As members of the Southern African Development Community Mission in Mozambique (SAMIM) begin to withdraw from the Cabo Delgado region, Tanzania is developing a strategy to protect itself from resurgent terrorism just over its southern border. The Tanzania People’s Defence Force (TPDF) is part of SAMIM while also operating a separate 300-person mission in Cabo Delgado’s Nangade district, which lies inland from the region’s coastal hot spots of Palma and Mocímboa da Praia. Nangade is separated from Tanzania by the shallow Rovuma River. Here, poverty and public resentment over a lack of economic opportunities create an environment in…

ADF STAFF Russian authorities in late April arrested a high-ranking defense official on charges of large-scale bribery. An investigation that led to the arrest of Maj. Gen. Timur Ivanov unearthed a trail of corruption and the Kremlin’s continuous efforts to expand its influence in Libya, The Libyan Observer newspaper reported. The investigation into Ivanov, who is responsible for the construction work of the Ministry of Defense, revealed his relationship with the “African Legion,” which cooperates directly with Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, the Libyan National Army (LNA) leader based in Benghazi. Haftar is committed to seizing Tripoli and toppling Libya’s internationally recognized…

ADF STAFF A steady stream of wounded civilians walk or are carried past the tents that surround Ndosho hospital in Goma, the provincial capital of North Kivu province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The hospital, which is supported by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), is at more than double its normal capacity, which necessitated extra beds in the tents. “Seeing the levels of suffering here is really distressing, and this is just a snapshot of the scale and complexity of humanitarian challenges in the DRC,” then-ICRC Director General Robert Mardini said in a March…

ADF STAFF Boko Haram is keen to expand beyond its strongholds in northeast Nigeria, but fighting among its Jama’atu Ahlis-Sunna Lidda’Awati Wal-Jihad (JAS) and Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) factions may be hampering the terror group’s plans. Years of infighting among the Islamic State group (IS) affiliates is driven by JAS grievances over the perceived marginalization of the Buduma ethnic group from ISWAP leadership positions which are typically Kanuri-dominated, according to the Institute for Security Studies (ISS). Another point of contention is how the factions handle civilians, particularly concerning “fey’u,” or loot taken outside combat. ISWAP forbids the taking of fey’u from Muslim…

ADF STAFF Nearly 50 people associated with the Islamic State West Africa Province terror group surrendered to the Nigerian Army on May 15, highlighting a recent surge of ISWAP defections and surrenders. Three members of the group turned themselves in to authorities in Nigeria and Cameroon over 10 days in April. Six more ISWAP members surrendered to the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) in the Lake Chad Basin around the same time. Some analysts view the surge in ISWAP defections and surrenders as signs of the group’s faltering cohesion and operational effectiveness. However, mass defections are unlikely to affect ISWAP…

ADF STAFF Russia faces fresh allegations of flooding Libyan markets with counterfeit banknotes in another bid to further destabilize the country. The Kremlin has a documented history of sending counterfeit currency to Libyan National Army (LNA) leader Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar. The Central Bank of Libya (CBL) announced in April that it began withdrawing the first and second prints of 50-dinar (just more than $10) banknotes from circulation after officials discovered counterfeit prints. Russia is accused of printing the fake money at a farm on the outskirts of Benghazi, Haftar’s base. Russia’s Wagner Group of mercenaries, now known as the…