ADF

Armed groups in the Sahel are exploiting tensions between the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) as they continue to expand their reach in West Africa. Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger left ECOWAS in 2024, and the countries’ leaders announced that they would form their own mutual defense pact to fight insurgents. Analysts say the ongoing absence of AES countries from regional organizations has allowed terror organizations to thrive across West Africa. Intensifying Terrorism The ISSP, Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) and other Boko Haram splinter factions are driving the violence that has been…

With a rapidly growing online population and historically weak cyber defenses, African nations are on the front line of cyberattacks. That position makes them a warning beacon and a potential model for developing methods to confront such attacks. “Africa has a unique opportunity to lead in combatting new threats, helping to shape the future of cyber defense,” Kerissa Varma, Microsoft’s chief security advisor for Africa, wrote in a recent analysis. Africa’s online infrastructure is bombarded daily with hundreds of thousands of attempted cyberattackswith Ethiopia, Nigeria and South Sudan reporting the most attacks in 2025. South Sudan’s rapidly expanding internet footprint…

A Nigerien rebel group has attacked oil production infrastructure, which could weaken the country’s finances and threaten its ruling junta’s grip on power. Created in 2024, the Patriotic Movement for Freedom and Justice (MPLJ) has gained strength through a series of attacks on Africa’s largest pipeline, which stretches nearly 2,000 kilometers from Niger’s oil-rich eastern deserts to Benin’s coast. The rebels’ primary targets are two Chinese oil companies that represent the main source of income for the junta and its leader, Gen. Abdourahamane Tiani. “Destroying the pipeline means destroying General Tiani,” MPLJ leader Moussa Kounaï told Jeune Afrique magazine for…

The Botswana Defence Force (BDF) in mid-January received nearly $1 million worth of spare parts for its fleet of C-130 Hercules military transport aircraft. The delivery included 26 pallets containing 12,000 items of brand-new maintenance equipment, including seals, hydraulic components, avionics spares, specialized ground support and propeller maintenance equipment. The BDF typically uses the aircraft, widely known as “the workhorse of the skies,” for troop transport, disaster relief, medical evacuation, and to support regional and international peacekeeping deployments. The C-130H is considered one of the most versatile and widely operated military transport aircraft in the world. Consistent access to spare…

The Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) captured more than 10 South Sudanese citizens as part of the fight to retake the North Kordofan community of Kazigil in late December 2025. The South Sudanese were fighting on the side of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which has taken parts of the Kordofan region on the border with South Sudan in recent months. The involvement of South Sudanese fighters on the side of the RSF prompted the Sudanese government to contact its counterparts in South Sudan regarding its citizens. The SAF has claimed since late 2024 that armed groups from South Sudan…

Forests cover nearly half of Cameroon, but they are being rapidly degraded by illegal logging operations that feed China’s appetite for tropical lumber. Cameroon has granted companies from around the world nearly 100 timber concessions to cut and ship logs legally. However, international observers say that many more logging operations occur unofficially, resulting in a loss of millions of dollars in resources and revenue each year. Cameroonian legislation adopted in 1994 regulates logging through quotas and requires companies to reforest logged areas. Illegal logging is undercutting all of that, according to analysts. “While observers focus their attention on legal logging,…

An ethnic militia that was recruited, trained and armed by Russia’s Wagner Group PMC has turned against the government of Central African Republic’s President Faustin-Archange Touadéra. Fighting between the Azandé Ani Kpi Gbè (AAKG) militia and the Central African Armed Forces (FACA), backed by Russian mercenaries, has flared in the remote southeastern Haut-Mbomou prefecture since the country’s December 28, 2025 presidential election. That day, the AAKG seized Bambouti, 3 kilometers from the border with South Sudan. “The choice of this date was no coincidence,” researcher Fulbert Ngodji told Radio France Internationale (RFI) for a January 12 article. “By attacking symbols…

Several ships left a port in Kaliningrad, a Russian enclave between Lithuania and Poland, in August 2024 and sailed off on a mission called “The Great African Expedition.” Launched by Russia’s Federal Agency for Fisheries (Rosrybolovstvo), it was touted as a scientific expedition ordered by Russian President Vladimir Putin to map depleted fish stocks alongside African researchers. Analysts, however, say the expedition is part of Russia’s broader strategy of influence and resource capture. The Kremlin does not want simply to count fish; it wants to catch them in African exclusive economic zones (EEZs). This is important to Moscow, as it…

Islamic State group and al-Qaida terrorists have been tapping social media technology for more than a decade to recruit and spread propaganda to a global audience. Now they and other groups are leveraging new tools that can supercharge messaging and possibly help perpetrate attacks. Artificial intelligence lets terrorists churn out slickly produced propaganda that proliferates across various platforms while requiring few people and limited resources. Voice-cloning technology, video and photo manipulation, and generative text capability all help terrorists distort reality and bend it toward new meaning, replacing the tedious tasks of typing long screeds and producing videos from scratch. AI…

The Armed Forces of Gabon, including members of the Gendarmerie Tactical Unit, the 1st Gabonese Parachute Regiment and the Republican Guard Special Intervention Section, wrapped up several weeks of Joint Combined Exchange Training in Libreville in late June 2025. Gabonese Soldiers worked with personnel from the U.S. Army 3rd Special Forces Group (Airborne) to strengthen tactical proficiency, interoperability and enduring partnerships. In one exercise, Gabonese personnel advanced through smoke cover to simulate a building raid. In another, members of the parachute regiment used a land model to plan movement. “This training has been about interoperability, leadership and trust,” said Deputy…