ADF

GUEST OPINION AND ANALYSIS CHIKONDI CHIDZANJA Since the announcement of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Mission in Mozambique (SAMIM) drawdown from Cabo Delgado province, there have been various criticisms about the intervention. Some have called the withdrawal premature; some have labeled it a regional failure and others have questioned the SADC’s competence while accusing it of turning away from a terrorist threat on its doorstep. The criticisms reached a crescendo recently with the resurgence of terror attacks in the area. However, what the critics miss is hidden in plain sight: the conduct of host country Mozambique. The host country…

ADF STAFF Russia has deployed 1,800 fighters to eastern Libya in what it hopes will become a base of power to exert influence in other parts of the continent. Some of those deployed were Russian soldiers, and others were mercenaries with Russia’s Africa Corps, still widely identified by its former name, the Wagner Group. The deployment came after a group of Russian ships delivered thousands of tons of weapons and military equipment at the eastern port of Tobruk in April. Both events came after meetings between Russian Deputy Defense Minister Yunus-Bek Yevkurov, the Wagner Group’s new boss Gen. Andrei Averyanov,…

ADF STAFF Russia is exploiting politically divided Libya, with its abundant natural resources, to exert more influence on the continent, especially in the Sahel region, a recent report said. The Kremlin’s work will be headed by Africa Corps, formerly known as the Wagner Group, which will be based in Libya. The group plans to spread a new form of “Russian colonialism,” according to a recent report by the Royal United Services Institute. “The Russian playbook has been remarkably consistent for decades,” the report said. “The overall approach is to use information operations and active measures to polarize a target population,…

ADF STAFF Mired in their fight against the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) appears ready to grant Russia a long-sought foothold on the Red Sea in exchange for weapons. “The Army is in desperate need of weapons, ammunitions and spare parts for its Russian-made warplanes,” Sudanese analyst Osman Al Mirghany told the North Africa Post. “Offering Russia a naval base in return for them is its best option.” Sudanese officials met with their Russian counterparts on the sidelines of the recent International Economic Forum in St. Petersburg to discuss establishing a Russian naval base. The…

ADF STAFF After years of fighting terrorism in the Sahel, experts say one counterterror tool has been badly neglected: economic development. Job creation and economic growth can address the grievances of people who feel ignored by their governments as well as provide young people with hope for the future, according to Mutaru Mumuni Muqthar, executive director of the Ghana-based West Africa Center for Counter-Extremism. “High levels of youth unemployment, poverty, and limited access to education and economic opportunities can create a sense of hopelessness and frustration,” Muqthar wrote on his group’s website. “Extremist groups may exploit these grievances by offering…

ADF STAFF Kenya has reaffirmed its commitment to help prosecute suspected pirates and other sea criminals amid roiling insecurity sparked by a recent surge in Somali pirate attacks and Yemen’s Houthi rebels. Kenya will prosecute pirates captured by the European Union Naval Force (EUNAVFOR) Operation Atalanta which has in recent months arrested several suspected Somali pirates during operations in the Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Aden. EUNAVFOR does not have the authority to prosecute or detain suspects for long without formal charges. EUNAVFOR Operation Commander, Vice Adm. José M. Núñez, said a reliable “legal finish” can have a “huge deterrent effect”…

ADF STAFF Somalia and the al-Shabaab terrorist group are fighting a war within a war — a constant battle to prop up and take down websites and social media accounts that disseminate extremist propaganda and disinformation. Somalia’s National Intelligence and Security Agency has stepped up its efforts by creating teams that scour the internet and alert tech companies to remove extremist content. “It was a difficult task when we started; it needed knowledge, skills and a lot of work,” Deputy Information Minister Abdirahman Yusuf al-Adala told Voice of America this year. “We trained people with the necessary skills; special offices…

ADF STAFF Amid the violence and chaos of Sudan’s civil war, 13-year-old Hadeer, her mother and three younger siblings fled their home in Omdurman to a displacement camp in Atbara, about 320 kilometers to the northeast. Hadeer’s aunt and uncle were killed, her cousins fled the country, and her family lost contact with her father. With the war raging, education had become a distant concern. Hadeer never thought she would be able to study again. Using a pseudonym for her safety, Hadeer told Save the Children, an international charity that built a school in her camp, how she dreamed of…

ADF STAFF In more than 15 years of fighting al-Shabaab, Somali leaders have discovered they cannot defeat the terror group by military means alone. Shortly after his election as president in 2022, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud revealed his plan for “total war” against the terrorists: a military offensive coordinated with the multinational African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS), a simultaneous attack on al-Shabaab’s vast financial network, and a plan to counter the group’s extremist ideology. “The previous policies were militaristic policies … attacking, destroying,” Mohamud said in a speech broadcast nationally in July 2022. “But [the] al-Shabaab problem is more…

ADF STAFF The United Nations has deployed new technology designed to help peacekeepers pass along valuable lessons and key experiences from the field to build a collective understanding of the risks and best practices in countries where they are deployed. First released in 2022, the publicly available Deployment Review Mobile app provides guidance regarding important U.N. peacekeeping duties such as observation and includes online templates for gathering data. However, the primary purpose of the app is to pass along vital operational data in the form of “lessons learned” files that build institutional memory and help future peacekeepers as they rotate…