ADF

ADF STAFF With thousands of adherents spread across the Sahel and Somalia, al-Qaida and the Islamic State group (IS) have reached an unprecedented threat level in Africa even as they appear to be in steep decline in the Middle East. That’s the assessment of a new United Nations analysis of the groups and their capacity to sow terror in the countries where they operate. The report is based on data provided by U.N. member states regarding the groups’ membership, leadership and finances. Overall, the presence of al-Qaida- and IS-related organizations has led to deteriorating security in parts of West Africa…

ADF STAFF Dozens of women and girls were lined up in a schoolyard in Port Sudan with AK-47 assault rifles at their feet. They loaded the weapons with ammunition as a military trainer barked orders, then laid flat on their stomachs with their weapons pointed straight ahead. Some of the students, teachers and housewives were at the makeshift military camp out of loyalty to relatives fighting in the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) against the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). According to Sky News, others had nowhere else to go as jobs in the city are scarce. “We support the military!” they…

ADF STAFF African women are making a difference in the United Nations’ global peacekeeping efforts, particularly in the lives of women and girls they meet during security operations. Téné Maimouna Zoungrana, coordinator of the security teams at Ngaragba Central Prison, the Central African Republic’s (CAR) largest prison, is among the many Africans reshaping traditionally held views on women’s roles in peacekeeping operations. Zoungrana in 2022 was awarded the first U.N. Trailblazer Award for Women Justice and Corrections Officers for her work in the U.N. Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the CAR. She was instrumental in creating an all-female rapid intervention team and recruiting and…

ADF STAFF The Kenya Defence Forces in January received 6,730 pieces of advanced protective equipment valued at Sh220 million ($1.38 million) from United States Africa Command. The donation included soft body armor, ballistic helmets to protect Soldiers from small-arms fire and ballistic plates to withstand heavy ammunition. “I can’t overemphasize the goodwill that is here in this partnership,” Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) Maj. Gen. Juma Mwinyika, general officer commanding, Eastern Command, said in a report by Kenyan newspaper The Star. “What is left is for us at the tactical and operational level to do much more. We have good support from the…

ADF STAFF After years of dormancy, the Eastern Africa Standby Force (EASF) is ready to deploy its collective military, police and civilian specialists when called upon, the force’s leadership announced recently. Speaking during the annual meeting of EASF nations, Kenyan Chief of Defence Forces Gen. Francis Ogolla called for a combined effort to maintain regional stability by confronting ongoing terrorism threats, rebellions within some of its members’ borders and growing tensions between other members. “We find ourselves in the midst of complex geopolitical dynamics, transnational threats, and emerging challenges that demand a unified and collaborative response,” Ogolla said. The EASF…

ADF STAFF Ethiopian businessman Tola Tesfaye was returning to Addis Ababa when armed men stopped his vehicle and kidnapped him for a ransom of 1.3 million birr ($23,000). Tesfaye’s experience is becoming routine across central Ethiopia’s Oromia State, driven by the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA). The rebel group has been fighting Ethiopia’s government since 2018, when it broke with its political wing, the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), after the OLF made peace with the national government. Since 2018, the OLA’s ongoing conflict with the federal government has increased insecurity in the heart of the country. The OLA also has been…

ADF STAFF Hamza, a 26-year-old Moroccan, once had a steady job and fiancee. He occasionally used recreational drugs at parties with friends, but he was not an addict. Then he was encouraged to try pufa, also known as “cocaine for the poor.” The synthetic drug made from cocaine or crystal methamphetamine waste can be cut with battery acid, engine oil, shampoo, salt, baking soda and ammonia. Users usually smoke it, but sometimes they inject it. “[My friends] told me that I was wasting my money on soft drugs with an obsolete effect,” Hamza, a pseudonym, told Morocco’s L’Observateur du Maroc et…

ADF STAFF After losing ground for months, the Sudanese Armed Forces have launched new offensives against the opposition paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, reclaiming some territory in Omdurman, among other places. It is unclear how successful the new offensive will be. Observers have pointed out since the conflict began in April 2023 that the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) are, in the words of analyst Michael Horton, “nimble, capable, and self-financing” because of the extensive gold smuggling operations of their leader, Gen. Mohamed Hamdan “Hemedti” Dagalo. Before Hemedti split with Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) leader Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the highly mobile…

ADF STAFF Mozambique’s armed forces (FADM) are taking a more prominent role in counterterrorism operations, as troops from the Southern African Development Community Mission in Mozambique (SAMIM) have begun to draw down. The insurgency in the northeastern province of Cabo Delgado continues to terrorize civilians and confound multinational security forces with its resilience. Rwandan and SAMIM forces have “significantly downgraded” Ansar al-Sunna, a violent extremist group also known as Islamic State Mozambique (ISM). After more than two years of fighting, the terrorist group is down to “160 to 200 battle-hardened fighters,” according to a United Nations monitoring team report published…

ADF STAFF Some have called it West Africa’s “Brexit.” Others referred to Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger as “the three rebels” after their decision to leave the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). Whatever it’s called, the defections reverse decades of economic integration and spell trouble for regional security and civilian governance, threatening to further destabilize the restive Sahel and West African regions. “If they decide to go ahead and leave, it will become a very big problem, economically and politically,” Seidik Abba, president of the CIRES think tank, told Reuters. “The stakes are the highest for the people…