ADF

Nations came together in November to participate in Grand African Nemo 2025, an annual exercise aimed at honing the maritime security skills of coastal West African navies. The weeklong event aimed to strengthen navies’ ability to cooperate in response to Gulf of Guinea sea crimes, including illegal fishing, piracy, and human and drug trafficking. It launched November 10 in Accra, Ghana. The exercise, led by the French Navy, integrated national maritime operations centers, multinational maritime coordination centers (MMCCs) and regional information hubs in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire; and Pointe-Noire, Republic of the Congo. It focused on strengthening regional coordination, collaboration and…

Chinese private security companies operate in at least 14 African countries, including Djibouti, Ethiopia, Egypt, Kenya and Somalia, where Beijing’s activities in East African coastal waters are coming under greater scrutiny. Critics have condemned China’s aggressive gray-zone tactics for years, accusing the government of using the private security companies, also known as PSCs, to opaquely conduct state business, including coercive actions that fall just short of open warfare. Such gray-zone tactics now are used in African waters in the Indian Ocean, which China seeks to control. Aritra Banerjee, a defense and strategic affairs journalist who co-authored a book on India’s…

Organized crime formed in the wake of Africa’s postcolonial independence in the 1970s, proliferated through continental conflicts in the 1980s and ’90s, and exploded amid globalization and economic growth in the 2000s, according to a new report. Africa Organised Crime Index 2025 notes how criminal markets, actors and resilience have changed over time. The Enhancing Africa’s Response to Transnational Organized Crime (ENACT) project published the November 17, 2025, report. “Organised crime has expanded rapidly in Africa’s post-colonial states, in response to weak governance and socio-economic inequalities, and fuelled by abundant natural resources and rich biodiversity, as well as porous borders,…

As Sahelian insecurity continues its westward and southward surge, Ghana is beefing up its maritime security to address sea crimes such as illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, piracy, and illicit weapons trafficking. Many illegal weapons pass through Ghana on their way to the Sahel. Writing for The Africa Report magazine, analyst Kent Mensah noted that Ghana’s increasing collaboration with the European Union, Germany and France, which has completely withdrawn from the Sahel to focus more on coastal states, has positioned Accra as a “new stabilizing force in the region.” In September 2025, the Tonnerre, a French amphibious warship, entered the…

Al-Qaida-linked terrorists have extorted a hefty ransom for an Emirati sheikh to finance their efforts to strangle the government in Mali and impose their strict interpretation of Islamic law. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) paid more than $20 million to secure the freedom of an Emirati prince kidnapped by al-Qaida’s West Africa affiliate Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM), according to news reports. Some news sources had previously put the ransom figure at more than $50 million. Kidnappers took the victim, a 78-year-old member of Dubai’s ruling family, in September during a raid of his farm south of Bamako, according to…

For almost nine months, Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces group has operated its own government in the west — a government that has been ignored by international authorities yet one that risks making Sudan’s crisis even worse, according to observers. “Parallel governments, as seen worldwide, often undermine the peace efforts, exacerbate crises, and result in a fragile, weakened state,” Sudanese analyst Gehad Ahmed wrote for Democracy in Africa. “For Sudan, this moves risks prolonging the war rather than ending it.” The RSF’s system, dubbed the “Government of Peace and Unity,” is led by RSF chief Gen. Mohamed Hamdan “Hemedti” Dagalo.…

A new Tigrayan rebel group is clashing with the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), conducting raids on civilians in the Afar region and renewing tensions along the front line of the nation’s civil war. This is stoking fears that Ethiopia’s fragile peace, which began in 2022 with the Pretoria peace agreement, is under threat. According to The Africa Report magazine, the rebel group known as the Tigray Peace Force (TPF) was established by disgruntled former Tigray Defense Forces (TDF) members and mid-level TPLF commanders who felt abandoned after the peace deal. “They saw no future under the TPLF leadership,” an…

Several South African men were shown milling around a parking lot wearing military uniforms bearing Russian flag badges. Behind them, a man said they were “off to fight Zelensky,” referring to the Ukrainian president. Speaking anonymously, one of the men said they were lured to Russia for training to provide “VIP protection” for more than 40,000 rand per month (more than $2,323), South Africa’s SABC News channel reported. They instead were transported to Ukraine’s embattled Donbas region, the majority of which Russia controls, to fight in the Kremlin’s drawn-out war. None of them had previous military training. Some of the…

Members of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary force didn’t hide their violent acts after capturing the capital of North Darfur state in western Sudan — some even recorded them. In October, the RSF built a massive sand berm around El-Fasher, the last city in Darfur held by the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and its allies. At sunrise on October 26, the RSF captured the town and launched attacks on civilians. Surrounded by bodies and burning vehicles, RSF fighters took videos of themselves laughing, smiling and executing unarmed civilians. “Look at all this work. Look at this genocide,” one said…

Despite a national crackdown on illegal gold mining in Ghana, the practice, locally known as “galamsey,” continues to contribute to the annual loss of billions of dollars. The mining is being driven by a combination of factors that includes depressed local economic conditions, scarce jobs, and lax enforcement. Some blame the influx of Chinese migrants for worsening the situation. Analysts say foreign miners exploit government regulatory lapses and have introduced large scale machinery such as dredging equipment that is destroying land and water sources. Many of the foreign miners were aided by China’s “Go Out” policy, which began encouraging Chinese…