ADF

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…

ADF STAFF As the battle for control of Sudan’s Darfur region rages on, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have increasingly focused attacks on a single ethnic group: the non-Arab Masalits. This group makes up a significant part of the region’s population and is fighting alongside other groups to keep the region out of RSF hands in the country’s civil war. North Darfur and its capital, el-Fasher, are the only part of the larger Darfur region outside the RSF’s control. Conquering el-Fasher will give the RSF a path to attack Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) positions in northern Sudan and to resupply…

ADF STAFF Since deploying in 2021, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Mission in Mozambique (SAMIM) has helped reduce the presence of Islamic State-affiliated terrorists in the Cabo Delgado province from several thousand to a few hundred. However, the upcoming end of SAMIM on July 15 has some observers concerned about a revival of terrorism in the region. In recent months, the chronically underfunded 16-nation SAMIM contingent has begun to shrink. Botswana and Lesotho withdrew their forces in April. Angola and Namibia are preparing to leave. Terrorists with the group known as Islamic State Mozambique are seizing the opportunity to…

ADF STAFF Millions of metric tons of illegally harvested timber smuggled from Mozambique to China are helping to fund one of Africa’s deadliest insurgencies, according to a newly published report. China’s illicit trade in rosewood, estimated to be worth hundreds of millions of dollars a year, is linked to the financing of Mozambique’s Islamic State-linked militants, according to the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), an organization that fights environmental crime. “In brazen violation of [Mozambique’s] log export ban, Chinese timber dealers buy logs for a few dollars and sell them in China, where they can be turned into luxury furniture selling…

ADF STAFF Policing maritime crime in Africa’s coastal waters requires more than simply intercepting suspect ships or arresting possible drug traffickers. It also requires careful attention to collecting evidence that can be used later to prosecute those criminals — skills that sailors often lack. Obangame Express 24 sought to fill that skill gap as part of its overall agenda aimed at building collaboration among countries operating within the Yaoundé Code of Conduct. Launched in 2013, the code plays an increasingly important role in maintaining situational awareness and fighting maritime crime in the Gulf of Guinea, one of the world’s hottest…

ADF STAFF South Africa has launched its latest venture exploring the potential for artificial intelligence (AI), this time in the defense sphere. The Defence Artificial Intelligence Research Unit (DAIRU) opened in early May at the South African Military Academy in the Western Cape province. It’s the first center of its kind in Africa, according to Mondli Gungubele, South Africa’s minister of communications and digital technologies. DAIRU is South Africa’s fourth AI research center. Gungubele said the center represents a strategic leveraging of AI on behalf of national security. “For Africa to be competitive in the world, we need to realize…

ADF STAFF Diplomats from Mali and Mauritania have been working hard to avert a border crisis between the neighboring West African countries. In April, Mauritania accused the Malian military (FAMa) and its Russian mercenary partners of chasing armed men across the border into the villages of Madallah and Fassala. “Several of our civilian compatriots were killed by the Malian army and fighters from the Wagner Group in Mauritanian camps on the border. We sent evidence to Bamako,” a Mauritanian security source on the border told Agence France-Presse. Relations between the countries have been mostly friendly for decades, but complex security…