ADF

Islamic State group terrorists have burrowed into the Cal Miskaad mountains in Somalia’s northern Puntland region. From those hovels, hewn from rocks and dirt, fighters have set up fortified camps to attack local security forces. The rustic setting also belies the group’s capacity for international terrorist financing and fundraising. An Islamic State group (IS) faction that once accepted money from Iraq and Syria now collects and disperses huge sums of money across the continent and beyond. Authorities have traced funds flowing from Somalia to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, South Africa and Uganda.  Money coming to South Africa has…

African governments for decades have grappled with the destabilizing effects of private military companies (PMCs), mercenaries and paramilitary groups, which are paid to protect leaders or fight alongside government forces in conflict zones — often without regard for local populations.  Mercenaries such as Russia’s Africa Corps, formerly the Wagner Group, are accused of committing atrocities against civilians in the Central African Republic, Libya, Mali, Mozambique and Sudan. These veteran troops fight and spread the Kremlin’s geopolitical agenda for pay. However, a new wrinkle in the continent’s war on terror is developing as seasoned, foreign terrorists are offering their services to…

A Mauritanian National Guardsman demonstrates a thermal image from a camera attached to a drone outside Oualata in April 2025. These desert cavalrymen, known as Méharistes, plod across the Sahara on camels. In recent years, they have regained a central role in the nation’s security strategy. Their patrols are crucial in a vast territory that shares 2,200 kilometers of a sparsely populated border with Mali, a nation for years plagued by terrorism and insurgency. The camels can move where even four-wheel-drive vehicles become immobilized. The guard had dwindled to about 50 people a few years ago due to a lack of…

When Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) extremists launched four simultaneous deadly attacks against Nigerian military forces in late October 2025, armed drones played a key role. The attacks on positions in the communities of Dikwa, Gajibo, Mafa and Katarko killed five Soldiers and burned a military base. Ultimately, Nigerian Soldiers drove back the attacks, killing 50 ISWAP fighters. However, the assault illustrated how drones have become an integral part of terrorist operations in Africa. Although African governments have spent millions of dollars buying military-grade drones such as Turkey’s Bayraktar TB2 and Akinci, terrorist groups have spent significantly less on…

Photos by Minusca It was a rare moment of joy in the Central African Republic village of Sanguéré-Lim as fighters who once inspired terror stood in line to lay down their weapons. The combatants from the Retour, Réclamation et Réhabilitation (3R) militia included teenage boys wearing football jerseys and grizzled men in knit caps. Upbeat music boomed on loudspeakers as a man hoisting a grenade launcher stood alongside a teen cupping two handfuls of bullets. “Today, the armed groups have laid down their weapons and that changed everything,” Adama Yaouba, a resident of the village, told the United Nations. “Before,…

The future of Rwanda’s military deployment in northern Mozambique is uncertain, as Kigali has tied the continuation of its mission in the insurgency-plagued Cabo Delgado province to securing sustained funding. President Paul Kagame recently warned that Rwandan forces could withdraw as early as May, when the European Union’s financial support is set to end. Rwanda is seeking long-term financial support for continuing counterinsurgency operations in Mozambique. “It’s not that ‘Rwanda could withdraw,’” Foreign Affairs Minister Olivier Nduhungirehe said in a March 14 social media post. “It’s that ‘Rwanda WILL withdraw’ its troops from Mozambique, if sustainable funding is not secured…

Burkina Faso’s military and pro-government forces are accused of killing hundreds of civilians between January 2023 and August 2025, according to a recent report by Human Rights Watch (HRW). Of the 1,837 civilians killed in Burkina Faso during that time, more than 1,200 were slain by the Burkinabe military and allied militias known as the Volunteers for the Defense of the Homeland (VDPs). Both Burkina Faso’s military junta, led by Capt. Ibrahim Traoré, and the VDPs are accused of ethnic cleansing in Fulani communities. One of the deadliest attacks on civilians came on December 14, 2023, when more than 200 Burkinabe…

A security specialist says that the terrorist group al-Shabaab and other extremist organizations are learning to move faster as they refine their efforts to target communities and security forces. Security expert Ibrahim Yanaya told intelligence chiefs from 70 countries at an April 2026 meeting in Kenya that militant groups linked to terrorist movements are changing how they operate, with new pressure points that could affect countries across the region, including Kenya. Yanaya, a deputy project director with the International Crisis Group, said the shift matters because extremist networks have continued to find ways to move faster than security forces, keeping…

Experts are warning that China’s recently launched Global Governance Initiative (GGI) represents a threat to developing nations by promoting authoritarianism through digital surveillance and repression. The adoption of “techno-authoritarianism,” defined as the use of digital information technology by governments to surveil, repress, and manipulate populations, poses significant risks to African nations, primarily by undermining democratic processes, human rights and long-term political stability. Retired Col. DCS Mayal, a former intelligence officer in the Indian Army, noted a severe lack of transparency that pervades China’s governance model, saying that the initiative transforms soft power into “invisible sharp edges.” “GGI strategies cultivate Global…

Moroccan and Spanish authorities on March 25 collaborated to arrest three suspected Islamic State group members: two in Tangier, one on Mallorca, Spain’s largest island. The suspect in Spain is accused of planning a solo attack, while the suspects in Morocco allegedly provided funding and logistical support to fighters linked to the Islamic State group in Somalia (ISSOM) and other IS branches in the Sahel region, the Morocco World News newspaper reported. Analysts say ISSOM, in particular, is keen to expand beyond its base in the country’s autonomous Puntland region through propaganda, online radicalization and recruitment efforts from its Al-Karrar…