ADF

ADF STAFF In August 2023, armed pirates took control of a fishing vessel just outside Sierra Leone’s port. The attack set off a quick response that brought together Sierra Leonean, Liberian and Ivoirian coast guards determined to catch the pirates and free the crew. As the hijacked boat fled Sierra Leone toward Liberia’s territorial waters, Sierra Leone’s coast guard handed the pursuit to Liberia, which dispatched two patrol boats to intercept the vessel as it got closer to shore. After a brief firefight, Liberian forces seized the vessel, rescued the 23 crew members and arrested two of the 13 pirates.…

ADF STAFF Fishermen near Benguela, Angola, pulled their artisanal canoes from the sun-splashed surf as fish sellers walked along the beach with baskets on their heads. Neither the canoes nor the baskets were brimming with fish. “It is the Chinese trawlers that have caused the fish to go far away,” local fisherman Jose Caterca told Voice of America (VOA). “So, it’s more difficult for us.” Caterca is one of about 50,000 artisanal canoe operators in Angola, where about 100,000 people work in the fisheries sector. Tito Catumbela owns several artisanal fishing boats and is a member of the local Ondjalay…

ADF STAFF Happy Delight Abajongawo was the first in her family to join the Ghana Armed Forces when she enlisted in the navy 15 years ago. She would like to see more follow her lead. “We need more women in the military,” Petty Officer Abajongawo, a clerk, recently told ADF. “We should encourage females to join because it’s better to be in the military than to be at home not working. Being in the military, you are taking care of yourself and getting more opportunities.” The Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) enlisted its first female member in 1958. Since then, women…

ADF STAFF Extremists linked to the Islamic State group (IS) in Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado province are notorious for raiding and torching entire towns, beheading civilians and attacking security forces. However, IS-linked groups are pushing to change their image in an effort to win public support and recruit new fighters, analysts say. Notably, they have increased “da’wah” activities in the provincial districts of Chiure, Macomia, Meluco, Mocímboa da Praia, Nangade and Quissanga, which 300 rebel fighters reportedly captured in March. Da’wah is an Arabic term that roughly means proselytizing. As Caleb Weiss noted in the Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ Long…

ADF STAFF Armed conflict has returned to the northern Ethiopian town of Alamata with the most serious fighting since the end of the Tigray war in 2022. The town and surrounding woreda, or district, are within one of two territories disputed by the Tigray and Amhara regions — contested lands that have been a tinderbox of ethnic discontent for decades. More than 50,000 people, primarily Amhara, have been forced to flee their homes in the Alamata woreda, as Tigrayan and Amhara militants clashed sporadically in February, March and April. “The humanitarian situation is dire, with thousands of women and children…

ADF STAFF More than 100 Burkinabe soldiers on motorbikes, in pickup trucks and at least two armored cars entered the village of Nondin in the country’s northern Yatenga province between 8:30 a.m. and 9 a.m. on February 25. The soldiers systematically ordered people out of their homes and told them to show their identity cards. They are accused of then opening fire on villagers they had rounded up into groups. By the time they left, 44 civilians, including 20 children, were dead, according to a Human Rights Watch (HRW) report. About an hour later, the soldiers entered the nearby village…

ADF STAFF Turkey’s growing presence in Africa is undeniable, and it’s by design. With its eyes on expanding influence, Turkey has significantly increased its engagement on the continent in recent years. Turkish trade is booming, as its exports to Africa have nearly doubled in less than a decade. The number of Turkish embassies on the continent has risen from 12 in 2005 to 44 today. Geopolitical Intelligence Services’ African affairs expert Teresa Nogueira Pinto says Turkey’s multifaceted investments are paying off, especially in the security sector. “Already an important presence in North Africa and the Horn of Africa, Ankara has…

ADF STAFF The joint African Maritime Forces Summit and Naval Infantry Leaders Symposium-Africa brought naval and coast guard leaders from 30 African countries and nearly a dozen partner nations for a week of high-level discussions. Attendees focused on sharing best practices and insight on how to safeguard coastal waters, littoral zones and inland waterways from a range of criminal activity. In one of the largest gatherings of its type, the conference room in Accra, Ghana was awash in crisp white uniforms worn by admirals and generals from across the continent. The three days of events included presentations by security experts…

ADF STAFF The Djiboutian Coast Guard, the Spanish Navy and the United States Navy in April participated in a biannual personnel recovery exercise at Camp Lemonnier. Operation Bull Shark was designed by the two forces to test communications, interoperability, and personnel recovery during maritime emergencies. The exercise was timely as the Djiboutian Coast Guard has in recent months intensified patrols due to the ongoing attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels on ships in the Red Sea. Djibouti’s economy has grown over the past decade and authorities view the Red Sea crisis as a threat. The country is separated from Yemen only…

ADF STAFF Chinese trawlers frequently fish illegally throughout the southwest Indian Ocean and their captains and crews routinely abuse foreign workers on board. New details about what goes on aboard the trawlers were revealed in a report by the Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF), which has for years documented illegal actions by China’s distant-water fishing fleet, by far the world’s largest. The foundation interviewed 44 crew members from Indonesia and the Philippines who worked on 27 Chinese tuna ships in the southwest Indian Ocean between July 2017 to August 2023. In early 2024, it interviewed another 16 Mozambican fishermen who worked…