ADF

ADF STAFF Russia’s extensive courtship of Burkina Faso in recent months has included 25,000 metric tons of free wheat, an agreement to build a nuclear power plant, a personal security detail for junta leader Capt. Ibrahim Traoré and now 100 paramilitary fighters. But experts warn that the former Wagner Group mercenary outfit, now known as the Africa Corps, has a history of indiscriminately killing civilians and plundering natural resources from its host countries. “[The Russians are] pursuing and defending their own national interests,” Rwanda-based political analyst Louis Gitinywa told Anadolu Agency. “It doesn’t matter what they are putting on the…

ADF STAFF The use of drones by Burkina Faso’s military is drawing criticism and calls for restraint amid reports of heavy civilian casualties. Burkinabe military drone strikes killed more than 60 civilians and injured scores more over a four-month stretch in late 2023, Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported. The military junta led by Capt. Ibrahim Traoré reported that the drone strikes targeted terrorists. The civilians reportedly were killed during three attacks starting in early August, when members of the Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) violent extremist organization rode motorcycles into a market in the southwestern village of Bouro. When the…

ADF STAFF The images of a wrecked unmanned aerial vehicle that Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) posted to its social media channels in late January confirmed what many observers have suspected: Iran is supplying weaponized drones to the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF). Through images posted online by the RSF, experts were able to identify the vehicle as an Iranian-made Mohajer-6 combat drone. The RSF said on X, formerly Twitter, that it had shot down three such drones recently. The Mohajer-6 can carry up to four air-to-surface missiles along with surveillance equipment. It has a maximum speed of 200 kilometers per…

ADF STAFF Eleven West African countries are designated as future fisheries conflict hot spots. These places could see clashes over marine resources in the next six years due to fish stocks depleted by illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing. According to a World Wildlife Fund (WWF) report, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, The Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Nigeria, the Republic of the Congo, Senegal, and São Tomé and Príncipe are highly likely to experience future conflict between foreign industrial trawlers, artisanal fishermen and local fishing communities. Other such designated areas on the continent are Mozambique and…

ADF STAFF Three military-led countries — Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger — dealt a blow to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) when they announced that they will leave the regional bloc. It was one of several blows that have weakened regional bodies around the continent, as the organizations have struggled to deal with complex security and economic challenges. The three junta-led countries quit ECOWAS on January 28 after the bloc had suspended and sanctioned them in an attempt to pressure the military rulers to return power to democratically elected leaders. In a statement the next day, the…

ADF STAFF Somaliland is an autonomous breakaway state in northern Somalia that has persistently pursued independence for 33 years. It has state institutions, a military, and functioning political and economic systems. The United Kingdom granted British Somaliland independence as the State of Somaliland on June 26, 1960. The state voluntarily united with Italian Somalia to form the Somali Republic on July 1, 1960, which is considered Somalia’s Independence Day. Somaliland’s independence lasted “only for five days,” researcher Natasha Matloob wrote for Modern Diplomacy magazine. “After that, it merged with present-day Somalia. This merger received serious backlash from many in Somaliland,…

ADF STAFF The United Arab Emirates has deployed troops to train Chadian Soldiers in warfare and how to operate donated Emirati equipment, including at least six armored vehicles that were delivered last year. News of the UAE troops’ deployment to Chad emerged in January. According to Military Africa magazine, the UAE is expanding its efforts to enhance its military and political presence in Chad — and around the Sahel region — amid the civil war raging in Sudan. Chad and the UAE signed a military cooperation agreement in June 2023. “The UAE has sent a shipment of military vehicles and…

ADF STAFF In its ongoing battle for control of Sudan, the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) rely heavily on gold smuggled out of the country and its close ties to Russia’s Wagner Group, now known as Africa Corps, according to a United Nations analysis. “Complex financial networks established by RSF before and during the war enabled it to acquire weapons, pay salaries, fund media campaigns, lobby, and buy the support of other political and armed groups,” U.N. experts wrote. Sudan’s smuggled gold eventually finds its way to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), where it enters the global market. Sudan’s gold…

ADF STAFF For some African nations, 2024 appears to be a year of economic reckoning as debts to China and other lenders come due. “People went and got low-interest loans by the bucketload,” Nonkululeko Nyembezi chair of South Africa’s Standard Bank, Africa’s largest bank by assets, said recently at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. “We now have to contend, country by country, with how to support countries.” Nine African countries started this year in debt distress, with another 15 at high risk of distress and 14 more categorized as moderate risk, according to the World Bank. Ethiopia, Ghana…

ADF STAFF Recent research shows a dramatic rise over the past year in misinformation generated by artificial intelligence and presented as authentic news that, experts say, puts at risk international peacekeeping operations in Africa. At last count, more than 675 websites publish what one group of experts describes as “unreliable” news articles generated by artificial intelligence (AI) — articles that frequently present falsehoods and misinformation as the truth. NewsGuard, a group that monitors misinformation efforts, identified the sites. Researchers found AI-generated content published in 15 languages, including Arabic, Chinese, English, French and Portuguese, on sites whose names make them seem…