ADF

ADF STAFF Niger’s announcement that it will suspend military cooperation with the United States is reverberating across the region, with observers fearful that Sahel security will further deteriorate. Col. Maj. Amadou Abdramane, a spokesman for Niger’s National Council for the Safeguard of the Homeland (CNSP), made the announcement on national television on March 16. The move came after a meeting with a U.S. delegation that included Gen. Michael Langley, commander of U.S. Africa Command, and Molly Phee, assistant secretary of state for African affairs. The U.S. and Niger are continuing diplomatic discussions to clarify the future of the U.S.-Niger security…

ADF STAFF As piracy, illegal fishing and human trafficking continued to plague East African waters, navies from 11 African nations, the United Kingdom and United States participated in Cutlass Express 2024 (CE24). Djibouti, Kenya and the Seychelles hosted the annual maritime security exercise in late February and early March. Seychellois President Wavel Ramkalawan was a guest of honor at the opening ceremony. The event, held primarily in the Western Indian Ocean, was sponsored by U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) and facilitated by U.S. Naval Forces Africa (NAVAF) and the U.S. 6th Fleet. “This exercise shows our mutual and unwavering commitment to…

ADF STAFF After months of relative calm, a surge of new attacks by the Islamic State-Mozambique (ISM) terror group is driving waves of people from their homes in the Cabo Delgado province. Thus far in 2024, more than 99,000 people, including 61,492 children, have fled their homes in Cabo Delgado, the charity group Save the Children reported on March 5. Of the 70,000 people who fled to the Nampula district to the south, 85% were women, reported the United Nations Children’s Fund. “There are repeated reports of beheadings and abductions, including multiple child victims,” the charity said in a statement,…

ADF STAFF As the Islamic State group (IS) has shifted its focus to Africa, South Africa has emerged as a locus of funding for the group’s operations on the continent — a situation that the country’s leaders say they are working to resolve. IS reportedly has cells in Durban and Cape Town that funnel money into its operations elsewhere on the continent. Those cells raise money through illicit activities such as ransom kidnappings, money laundering and extortion. The group’s African financial operations have become more important in recent years as its core Middle East operations have shrunk due to military…

ADF STAFF Somali national forces and Jubaland regional forces in early March killed scores of al-Shabaab fighters during operations in the Lower Juba region. The battles were mainly in Bahar Saaf, Haji, Malaylay, Turdho and other heavily forested areas where the terrorists operate. “The national forces, alongside Jubaland’s heroes, have engaged the Khawarij for four consecutive days,” Abdirahman Yusuf Aladala, Somalia’s deputy minister of information, said in a report by Somali news website Hiiraan Online. “We have successfully eliminated over 50 militants, detained 20 and reclaimed numerous territories.” Somali national forces, regional governments and clan militias, locally known as “Ma’awisley,” have stepped up…

ADF STAFF Col. Alpha Yaya Sangaré flashed a proud smile in front of a roomful of people at the Alioune Blondin Beye Peacekeeping School in Bamako, Mali, on February 24. The occasion was a signing event for his new book, “Mali: The Challenge of Terrorism in Africa.” However, once the ruling military junta discovered portions of the book that criticized their tactics and abuses against civilians, they issued a news release on March 1 to denounce it. “Certain paragraphs of this book carry alleged serious incriminations of violation of human rights by the FAMa (the Malian military) with the complicity…

ADF STAFF The recent deaths of South African Soldiers, deployed in December to confront M23 rebels in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), have South African opposition groups questioning the mission and the resources available to the troops. “The reality is that the SANDF (South Africa National Defence Force) does not have the capacity to effectively pursue an anti-insurgency campaign against the M23 rebels and neither does it have the prime mission equipment to support the ground forces,” Kobus Marais, a member of the Democratic Alliance said in a statement about the deployment, released on the alliance’s website.…

ADF STAFF Two gym instructors in Oromia, Ethiopia’s largest and most populous region, were detained on suspicion of working with the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA), which has battled government forces for decades. The instructors denied involvement with the OLA, which is responsible for hundreds of civilian deaths in addition to kidnappings. OLA grievances are rooted in the alleged marginalization and neglect of Oromos. The men were suspended from a ceiling, with their arms bound at the wrist and their legs bound at the ankle. “I was put upside down and then [shocked] on the sole of my foot,” one told Reuters.…

ADF STAFF Thousands of civilians in northern Mali have fled their homes in recent months, running from what they call systematic attacks by Russian mercenaries and Malian soldiers. Malian researcher Mohamed Issouf Ag Mohamed and professor of African history Mariana Bracks Fonseca recently reported on the actions of the notorious Wagner Group mercenaries who are leading units of the Malian military (FAMa) in the country’s central and northern regions. “Military actions amounting to ethnic cleansing of minorities are underway, combined with discriminatory propaganda calling for violence against and persecution of all civilians who wear turbans or other clothing typical of…

ADF STAFF Rebels killed at least 21 people, including children and a Soldier, in the northern Central African Republic (CAR) in late December. Nzakoundou village residents blamed the attack on a rebel group that claims to protect Muslim Puehl herdersbut has been accused of mass killings and looting. “The rebels first attacked the army checkpoints, killing one person and wounding several others, before attacking the civilian population, killing about 20 people,” Ernest Bonang, a federal lawmaker who represents Nzakoundou, told The Associated Press. News of the attack did not surprise many observers, as the CAR has experienced intercommunal fighting since…