ADF

ADF STAFF Eduarte Cristiano Tumbati and his family fled their home in terror, taking only a few kitchen utensils when they left the village of Ntoli in Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado province. Tumbati, 38, his wife and their three children journeyed five hours by foot to the safety of a displaced persons camp after extremist militants attacked Ntoli and murdered Tumbati’s brother. “My brother and his wife were in their cassava field when the insurgents appeared two years ago,” he told the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR). “They cooked food and after they had eaten, they told his wife to watch…

ADF STAFF Sixteen months after the Ethiopian government defeated rebels in its northern Tigray region with the help of Eritrea, remaining Eritrean Defence Forces troops have been abducting farmers and stealing livestock, according to reports. Eritrean forces came to the aid of the Ethiopian government in its fight against the Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), which sought to overthrow the Ethiopian and the Eritrean governments. Tigray residents have accused Eritrean forces of abuse and committing war crimes. In Adwa, Eritrean soldiers killed more than 300 people, including women, children and the elderly. They damaged or destroyed nearly 70 buildings days…

ADF STAFF The Tanzania Forest Agency (TFA) is adding drones to the tools it uses to protect dwindling woodland areas, which are under pressure from a variety of sources. “The utilization of drone technology is important because it will help us cover a large area and leave the remainder to patrols using vehicles and motorcycles,” said Dos Santos Salayo, TFA’s commissioner for conservation. The agency announced the deployment of four new vehicles and nearly 40 motorcycles to patrol Tanzania’s forests. “We are committed to enhancing the sector by equipping you with the necessary tools and expertise to drive positive outcomes…

ADF STAFF The Chinese-built Standard Gauge Railway in Kenya was supposed to be profitable by transporting cargo from Mombasa to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda and Uganda, then bringing goods from those countries back to Kenya. A Chinese feasibility study that underpinned the project claimed the railway, also known as the SGR, would move 22 million tons of freight a year, or 20 trains a day. According to some estimates, the railway handles only about a quarter of that much freight. Critics of the project abound due to its shortcomings, the opaque nature of its deal, and the…

ADF STAFF For seven years, the Islamic State Central Africa Province (ISCAP) has relied on a network of Islamic State group affiliates to fund much of its terror campaign across the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda. However, recent events suggest that network might not be as reliable as it once was. Two events appear to be putting ISCAP’s finances of shaky ground: the recent collapse of IS operations in Mozambique and al-Shabaab’s repeated losses in Somalia. Like similar groups, ISCAP also extorts money from local residents in the DRC’s North Kivu and Ituri provinces, where it is…

ADF STAFF Terrorism in Sub-Saharan Africa is intensifying, and experts say the central Sahel region has replaced the Middle East as its global epicenter. Worldwide deaths from terrorism increased by 22% in 2023 to 8,352 — the most since 2017 — according to the 2024 Global Terrorism Index (GTI), published on February 29. “Sub-Saharan Africa alone accounted for just under 59% of all fatalities,” the GTI report stated. “The Sahel accounts for almost half of all deaths from terrorism globally.” Although terrorism in Sub-Saharan Africa got substantially worse in 2023, some experts noted that violent extremist organizations are becoming more…

ADF STAFF After a six-year lull in major attacks, Somali pirates in December attacked four vessels as international navies relocated from the Indian Ocean to the Red Sea, where they protect maritime traffic from attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels. Some observers believe al-Shabaab militants in Somalia’s northern Sanaag region reached a deal to provide protection to pirates in exchange for 30% of all ransom proceeds and a cut of any loot, Emirati newspaper The National reported. The deal could provide al-Shabaab with critical funds after the Somali government clamped down on its other illegal money sources and froze its bank…

ADF STAFF In one of Africa’s largest gatherings of air force commanders, leaders discussed how increased mobility and strategic partnerships can help restore peace to some of the continent’s most troubled regions. The occasion was the Association of African Air Forces’ 2024 African Air Chiefs Symposium in Tunis, Tunisia. About 270 people from 37 African nations attended, including 27 of 30 association members. The meeting ran from February 26 through March 1. Topics included opportunities for increased partnerships, peacekeeping, recognizing the inherent value of enlisted personnel and providing more resources to female recruits. Key speakers included Imed Memmich, Tunisia’s minister…

ADF STAFF Ethiopian security forces killed at least 45 civilians in their homes in Amhara State in late January, according to the state-affiliated Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC). The commission said in a statement that victims in the northern town of Merawi were killed for allegedly supporting Fano, an Amharic word meaning “volunteer fighters.” A pregnant woman was among the victims. “It can be assumed that the number of victims is even higher,” the commission said. Witnesses told the BBC that uniformed Ethiopian security officers conducted house-to-house searches after several hours of fighting between Ethiopian forces and Fano fighters on January…

ADF STAFF More than a decade of violent conflicts in the Sahel has given rise to the thriving business of firearms trafficking, in which demand far outpaces supply. With a 2022 population of 4.2 million, Mali’s capital city of Bamako is one of the primary centers for the illegal weapons trade. Oluwole Ojewale, Central Africa regional coordinator for the South Africa-based Institute for Security Studies, authored a recent study that examined the causes of arms trafficking in Bamako. “Arms are trafficked along the trans-Saharan route, which includes Libya, Algeria, Niger and Ménaka [in eastern] Mali,” he wrote in a February…