ADF

Botswana Defence Force (BDF) intelligence personnel analyzed the threat report as it came in on August 12: Unidentified drones were operating near critical infrastructure. Fortunately, it was a simulation. The training was part of Southern Accord, a joint exercise held biennially by the BDF and United States military. The six-day event was aimed at strengthening security in Botswana and Southern Africa through better cooperation and interoperability. This year’s iteration focused on counterterrorism, counterinsurgency, space and cyberspace domain awareness, crisis response planning, and whole-of-government coordination. It ran from August 10 to 15 with an opening ceremony at Gaborone Technical College, where…

Sahel terrorists are targeting gold mines and surrounding communities in search of revenue, recruits and weaponry such as explosives. In some cases, the terrorists have built bases nearby. Rather than attack mines directly, Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) and Islamic State Sahel Province (ISSP) have staked their claims to nearby communities in different parts of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, along with the roads that connect mining areas to each other and to the outside world. The groups target industrial and artisanal mining areas. “As militant groups expand into new areas, they rarely focus on mines alone,” Héni Nsaibia, West…

Experts and officials are grappling with the future of African peacekeeping operations amid a new reality of rising terrorism and shrinking international funding. Financial support and personnel for United Nations peacekeeping operations dropped to a 25-year low in 2025, according to a May report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). The U.N. deployed just 78,633 peacekeepers as of December 2025, which is 49% less than in 2016, and the lowest level since at least 2000. The numbers have been declining throughout the past decade, but 2025 saw the sharpest year-on-year drop at 17%. “If things continue in this…

Armed pirates in mid-August boarded and seized a cargo vessel about 4 nautical miles off the Somali coast. About a month earlier, pirates seized a Tanzanian-flagged tanker in the Gulf of Aden and took it toward Somalia’s autonomous Puntland region. Between April and July 2026, the United Nations’ International Maritime Bureau recorded 24 attempted and actual incidents of piracy and armed robbery against ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, posing higher risks for global shipping. “In recent months, we have seen a peak in the piracy events in the area,” a spokesperson for the European Naval Force…

On October 7, 2025, a group of heavily armed men in military fatigues visited a mosque in Mocímboa da Praia, a coastal town in Cabo Delgado province. Addressing a crowd of men, women and children, one of the men presented the group, the Islamic State Mozambique (ISM), as a legitimate authority in opposition to Mozambique’s government. He told them that they had a duty to support the group’s jihad, and that there were “two governments, one of the non-believers and the other of the Muslims.” He warned them not to collaborate with the authorities or attend their meetings. In recent…

No longer simply a way to produce propaganda, AI has become a key tool for terrorist groups who use it to plan attacks, teach how to build explosives and more. “You type in the question or use your voice and it [AI] gives you a detailed answer, like ‘How can I build a bomb?’ and then it tells you how. It is like a human robot! We used it a lot,” one former member of Boko Haram told a researcher with the University of Cambridge. In a recently published study, researcher Antonia Juelich revealed the extent to which Boko Haram…

Nigeria’s battle with terrorism is colliding with a rapidly expanding digital ecosystem, and video-sharing platform TikTok is emerging as terror groups’ app of choice. The Islamic State group and al-Qaida have long maintained robust media networks, using newsletters, photos and videos on numerous digital platforms to radicalize, recruit, coordinate, fundraise, and spread religious and propaganda messages and misinformation. With its rapid adoption in recent years, TikTok has given terrorists new opportunities to extend their reach. “Armed groups now operate simultaneously as offline combatants and online influencers,” Nigerian researcher Mustapha Alhassan wrote in a February commentary for independent think tank ODI…

Vessels connected to Russia’s widely sanctioned “shadow fleet” are abusing continental shipping registries to continue exporting oil and fund Moscow’s war with Ukraine. Russia uses African shipping registries to obscure the true ownership of the shadow fleet’s 591 aging, oil tankers that carry up to 4.1 million barrels of oil a day. The fleet, which also has begun carrying natural gas, generates about $100 billion annually. According to researchers at the Robert Lansing Institute, shipping registries in Africa often have weak mechanisms to verify a vessel’s registration, operators and ownership. Russia commonly registers its vessels under “false flags,” while its…

The Kenya Navy discovered more than a metric ton of methamphetamine when it intercepted the MV Mashallah, a small, unregistered fishing boat, about 340 nautical miles east of the coastal Kenyan town of Lamu in October 2025. Authorities arrested six Iranians on charges of trafficking the drug, which was valued at $63.4 million and found to be 98% pure. The seizure was the result of a coordinated multinational operation targeting drug trafficking along Indian Ocean shipping lanes. Authorities said the boat was bound for Kenya. Once known as a transit hub for illegal drugs, the East African coast is becoming a…

ADF STAFF Terrorist groups are experimenting with AI to spread their ideology and make attacks more deadly. But security professionals are finding that the tool is just as valuable when used to protect citizens from these groups. “AI-powered surveillance tools can track terrorist movements, analyze suspicious financial transactions and detect radicalization patterns on social media platforms,” Mahmoud Ali Youssouf, African Union Commission chairperson, said during a 2025 gathering of the AU Peace and Security Council. Al-Qaida and the Islamic State group have embraced online technology, and each has sought to create a “digital caliphate” that reaches across international borders and…