ADF

Annual cocaine seizures in West Africa have surged from two metric tons in 2018 to more than 30 metric tons in 2025, according to a report by the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime (GI-TOC). Cocaine trafficking was the fastest-growing criminal market in West Africa between 2019 and 2025. According to The Economist, the volume of cocaine seized in the region each year increased by 50%. At least one-third of the cocaine exported to Europe transits the region. Some analysts believe that about 30% of all cocaine bound for Europe last year passed through West Africa. “Critically, West Africa is…

Two years after canceling a peace agreement with Tuareg separatists, Mali’s ruling junta is no closer to restoring security to the country, according to analysts. Instead, the junta appears to have undermined its own counterterrorism efforts by prompting the Azawad Liberation Front (FLA) to align with terrorists. “They [the Malian government] decided the factions in the north were terrorists equal to JNIM [Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin] and would be fought the same way,” Wassim Nasr, senior researcher at The Soufan Center, told ADF. “At the end of the day, this policy led to a real coalition between the [FLA] rebels…

A militia that was trained and armed by Russian mercenaries in the Central African Republic is turning on the CAR government and wreaking havoc. The Azande Ani Kpi Gbe (AAKG) took up arms in 2023 in the southeast of CAR near the border with South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The group billed itself as a defender of the ethnically Azandé people who live in the tri-border area. Clashing mostly with ethnic Fulani fighters, the group won control over the town of Bambouti, giving it access to gold mines and cross-border weapons trafficking. The CAR government, which…

As African nations seek to disrupt terror organizations, they increasingly face the challenge of dismantling terrorists’ multifaceted financial systems. This is particularly true in East Africa, where al-Shabaab and Islamic State-Somalia (IS-S) use extortion, smuggling, money laundering and illicit taxes to collect hundreds of millions of dollars. Al-Shabaab’s tentacles spread throughout Somalia’s economy, allowing the terrorist group to raise an estimated $200 million a year to finance its operations. IS-S raises at least $1.2 million a year through its criminal activities and shares some of these funds with other Islamic State groups through its al-Karrar office, a regional command center…

The Nigerian Navy and Federal Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture (FDFA) arrested 33 people, including three Chinese nationals, in late August as part of a three-day initiative known as Exercise Coastal Grip II and Operation Abo Eja. It was not immediately clear what the Chinese nationals did on the vessels, but Chinese fishing captains have committed illegal, unregulated and unreported (IUU) fishing in the Gulf of Guinea for decades. Also arrested were two Ghanaians and 28 Nigerians. Chinese captains routinely hire African workers. The operation involved naval ships, helicopters, Special Boat Service personnel and maritime surveillance assets, and was coordinated…

Ghana’s Foreign Affairs Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa took a firm stance on the deceptive recruiting practices that have led dozens of young Ghanaians to die for Russia on battlefields in Ukraine. He first raised the issue in February, saying that 272 Ghanaians had fought on Russia’s side of the war. But he brought updated numbers to an August 17 meeting in Moscow with his counterpart Sergei Lavrov — seven more Ghanaians had been killed in the fighting, bringing the total to 62, and 15 were missing. Ablakwa emerged from the meeting and held a news conference with Russian media, reporting…

The discovery and dismantling of a terrorist cell linked to the al-Qaida-affiliated Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) was surprising news in Guinea in March. Weeks later, the government announced the creation of an interagency Special Operations Command to prevent and counter the spread of terrorism. Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces Gen. Ibrahima Sory Bangoura hailed the command as symbolic of the modernization of Guinea’s defense forces in the face of new security challenges. “The creation of this new command tool responds to a major challenge: the need to confront threats that have become more complex and…

Comoros, Djibouti, Somalia and Sudan are among 14 nations that signed the Multinational Maritime Defence Alliance, a partnership that aims to protect sea traffic in the Bab el‑Mandeb Strait, Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea. Other participating nations are Bahrain, Bangladesh, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Türkiye and Yemen. The countries are expected to collaborate on intelligence sharing, joint exercises and coordinated patrols, according to the Africa Ports & Ships digital news publication. Officials signed the pact in late July amid increasing Somali pirate attacks, ongoing threats from Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels against Saudi‑linked shipping and other…

As Mozambique’s battle against terrorists nears a decade, the country is investing in a new center to understand the problem and support the fight. It created the National Centre for the Prevention and Combating of Terrorism and Violent Extremism in 2025 under the control of the Mozambique Defense Armed Forces. In April of this year, members of the counterterrorism center (CTC) met with the United Nations Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate to identify ways the U.N. can support an integrated national counterterrorism response in Mozambique. According to analyst Borges Nhamirre of the Institute for Security Studies, the new CTC is a…

Authorities arrested five people, including two Mexican nationals, at a crystal methamphetamine manufacturing facility at a rural farm in the Limpopo province of South Africa in late August. Two Zimbabwean nationals and one Malawian national were also arrested on charges pertaining to the manufacture and possession of illicit drugs. Officials seized drugs and drug manufacturing equipment worth $37.5 million at the facility. The arrests were the result of a collaborative operation involving members of the Hawks, the South African Police Service [SAPS] branch that specializes in fighting organized crime, and officers from the country’s narcotics bureau, Crime Intelligence Bureau and Special…