ADF

After years of on-again, off-again negotiations, Sudan has agreed to let Russia establish its first naval base on the continent along the war-torn country’s Red Sea coast. “We are in complete agreement on this matter, and there are no obstacles,” Foreign Minister Ali Youssif said at a joint news conference with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, in Moscow on February 12. After the ouster of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad in December 2024, the country’s new government terminated a treaty that had granted a long-term lease for Russia’s only foreign naval base. The Kremlin has stepped up efforts since then to…

A peace agreement between the government of Senegal and separatist rebels in Casamance is raising hopes that one of the continent’s longest-running conflicts may be nearing an end. On February 23, after three days of meetings, Senegalese Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko and members of the Movement of Democratic Forces of Casamance signed an agreement at an event hosted by Guinea-Bissau. Sonko called the signing a “very big step towards peace.” “Guinea-Bissau and Senegal must work together to promote peace in Casamance, because the instability of this region affects us all,” Sonko said, according to state broadcaster RTS. The peace deal…

Islamic State – Mozambique (ISM) terrorists recently attacked the Armed Forces for the Defense of Mozambique (FADM) twice in February at two separate locations in Cabo Delgado province. On February 20, the terrorists killed at least two members of the armed forces during an attack on a military outpost in Quissanga. Local sources told Mozambican news website Moz24h that the terrorists retreated before entering residential areas. The attack in Quissanga was preceded by an IS improvised explosive device attack on a Mozambican Army vehicle, but no deaths were reported. These attacks on FADM came after months of the IS mainly…

Overdose deaths by users of the synthetic drug “kush” are on the rise in West Africa, where new drug consumption and production markets are surging. Made with synthetic opioids, it is one of the most powerful and dangerous drugs on the market. Sometimes known as “the zombie drug,” its users can fall asleep while walking, sometimes into traffic. They can bang their heads against walls and fall from buildings. Users often complain of pounding pain in their head, neck and joints. It can cause limbs to swell, organs to fail and trigger severe mental health issues. A new report by…

The Islamic State group’s two affiliates in West Africa rely on both modern cryptocurrency and hawala, a traditional person-to-person exchange, to finance their operations. Nigerian authorities are tightening their controls over both financial channels to undermine the terror groups. Islamic State’s Nigeria-based Maktab al-Furqan office oversees financial operations of both Islamic State West African Province (ISWAP), operating in the Lake Chad Basin, and Islamic State Sahel Province (ISSP), headquartered in northern Mali. The two groups raise millions of dollars in revenue through a complex mix of extortion, kidnapping and zakat, a form of religious obligation that IS has exploited across…

Authorities convicted seven Chinese nationals in late February in South Africa on nearly 160 charges related to human trafficking, kidnapping, debt bondage, labor law violations and breaches of occupational health and safety regulations. Sentencing is scheduled for late April. Officers arrested them in 2019 at the Beautiful City blanket factory in Johannesburg, where authorities said they employed 91 undocumented Malawians between 2017 and 2019, South African online newspaper TimesLIVE reported. Acting on a tip, the Hawks’ Serious Organized Crime unit, a branch of the South African Police Service; Tactical Response Team members and Department of Labor officials broke into the factory…

Moroccan authorities have arrested more than a dozen Islamic State operatives, disrupting an attempt by extremists based in the Sahel to sow terror in the North African kingdom. The arrests in February came after raids on nine Islamic State group (IS) cell locations across the country, including in major cities such as Casablanca and Fez. Security authorities confiscated materials needed to make remotely controlled bombs along with knives, rifles and handguns with their serial numbers removed. The arrests were the latest in a string of anti-IS operations in Morocco. Between January 2023 and February 2024, for example, Moroccan authorities broke…

Puntland security forces made a surprising discovery when they took control of the remote town of Shebaab. Hidden beneath a vegetable farm, Soldiers uncovered a large, abandoned bunker that they believe was the primary operations center for top leaders of the Islamic State-Somalia group. The Puntland Defence Forces (PDF) found electrical wiring, lights, ventilation pipes, dry food, bedding, medical supplies, fuel and weapons beneath the farm in the remote town of Shebaab on February 24. They also discovered two mass graves in the town “where the terrorists buried some of their senior members,” the PDF posted on social media. Since…

Across the continent, Air Forces are striving to achieve air supremacy, neutralize threats and gather intelligence. They also play a pivotal role in humanitarian and disaster relief efforts. That occasionally overlooked role was the focus of the recent African Air Chiefs Symposium, where more than 240 participants from 38 nations gathered in Lusaka, Zambia, from February 17-21. Citing the ebb and flow of drought and floods in his country, Zambia Air Force Commander Lt. Gen. Oscar Nyoni underscored the importance of bringing together air chiefs from across the continent. “Air Forces across Africa possess a unique capability to do more…

Somalia’s newest peacekeeping mission officially began on January 1, but the future of the African Union Support and Stabilization Mission in Somalia, known as AUSSOM, is uncertain as the United Nations and African Union struggle to secure financing. “We are urging for predictable funding for AUSSOM. I hope our voices will be heard by the Security Council,” U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres told the 38th African Union Summit in mid-February. The 32-month-long African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS) and its predecessor, the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), both depended on international donors. That funding structure was often unpredictable and,…