ADF

ADF STAFF Maj. Gen. Emmanuel Kotia remembers being deployed to Lebanon in 2006 to command the Ghanaian battalion of the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).  Some southern villages in his area of responsibility had been occupied and badly damaged during the war. Residents had been forced to flee, and their anger as they returned home was palpable.  “They were devastated,” he told ADF. “When people came back to the villages, they didn’t want to see any U.N. vehicle passing through the road.” He said civilians believed the U.N. should have done more to prevent attacks. Kotia decided to go…

ADF STAFF The 27-minute video shows how one of the Lake Chad Basin’s fiercest extremist groups turns children ages 8 to 16 into religious radicals, gun-toting extremists and assassins. Titled “The Empowerment Generation,” the January 2022 propaganda film is from the Islamic State West Africa Province’s (ISWAP) “Khilafah [Caliphate] Cadet School.” It’s the most detailed Islamic State group (IS) video of children released up to that point, according to The Jamestown Foundation. “It is meant to showcase a day in the life of a trainee at the school,” the foundation says. The children spend their days reciting the Quran, praying,…

ADF STAFF  |  Photos by REUTERS Over the past decade, Sudan has become the third-largest producer of gold in Africa. The industry gained momentum after the secession of South Sudan in 2011 when the country turned to mining to compensate for the two-thirds of the oil wells it lost in the split. But this natural wealth has not benefited the population. Instead of the gold being mined by the private sector and taxed accordingly, the mining is in the hands of the military. Sudan’s military is deeply involved in the country’s economy, from gold mines to farm fields to weapons…

ADF STAFF Security forces in civilian clothes abducted Daouda Diallo, a prominent human rights defender in Burkina Faso, on December 1 as he was renewing his passport in Ouagadougou, the national capital. Three days later, a picture of him armed and wearing military clothing circulated on social media. Burkinabé security forces in early November leveraged a controversial law regarding the general mobilization to fight armed groups. The law allows authorities to sanction and silence civil society members and human rights defenders who criticize the military junta led by Capt. Ibrahim Traore, according to Amnesty International. Diallo, 41, spoke against the…

ADF STAFF Ahmed was crossing Mali in an attempt to reach Europe when he was waylaid by extremists and forced to work in one of the country’s artisanal gold mines. “We’ve been here for a year,” he told Al Jazeera. “My brother has been here for six months. We are provided with safety and security as long as we do the work.” Working alongside Ahmed and his brother are other adults and many children. Gold plays a major role in the economies of countries across the Sahel, financing both governments and extremists alike. As it has become associated with corruption,…

ADF STAFF The rapid expansion of digital technology in recent years has left millions of Africans vulnerable to cybercriminals seeking to scam them, their companies and even their governments out of money and valuable personal information. The problem is so pervasive that, according to some estimates, cybercrime can cost African countries up to 10% of their gross domestic product each year. “Cyber threats are more sophisticated and complex than ever and evolving quickly with new technology like AI [artificial intelligence] becoming increasingly advanced every day,” Stu Sjouwerman, CEO of South African cybersecurity company KnowBe4, wrote recently for the online publication…

ADF STAFF Chinese national En “Aisha” Huang is well known in Ghana as the “Galamsey Queen,” a nickname bestowed by the local media to describe her status as a kingpin of illegal gold mining operations. Her arrest and recent sentencing are emblematic of Ghana’s serious, ongoing problem with Chinese involvement in illegal artisanal small-scale gold mining (ASM). A Ghanaian court on December 4 sentenced Huang to 4½ years in prison and levied a $4,000 fine for running an illegal mining operation. Authorities told reporters that she will be deported after serving the sentence. “She’s someone that has gotten her name…

ADF STAFF The fields around Djibo in northern Burkina Faso are empty: The farmers cannot leave the city to work them. Djibo, along with other communities in the countryside, is under blockade by militants who accuse residents of siding with the government. The blockade has reduced Djibo’s food supplies by as much as 65% and crippled its health care system. At the same time, the community near the Malian border has become a refuge for people fleeing extremist violence elsewhere. Most of Djibo’s 360,000 residents are from surrounding communities; half are children. Once an important commercial hub for the region,…

ADF STAFF Years of military missions have left civilian and political factions frustrated with intractable violence from a stew of armed groups operating in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Now the East Africa Community Regional Force (EACRF), led by a contingent of the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF), is preparing to depart. A new force, organized and deployed by the Southern African Development Community (SADC), will try its hand at bringing peace and stability to the region. Early on, the EACRF appeared at odds with the president and the people of the DRC. On December 3, Kenyan troops…

ADF STAFF Northern Mozambique’s Nangade district has been one of the country’s most volatile areas throughout the conflict in the Cabo Delgado province. Only six of the district’s 51 villages have been untouched by violence since fighting erupted about five years ago. Insurgents in January 2023 kidnapped eight people as they worked in their fields in the village of Chacamba. Seven captives were released, but the eighth was beheaded, the Club of Mozambique newspaper reported. From February to May, however, the district enjoyed a tenuous calm as troops with the Mozambican Defense and Security Forces (FDS), Southern African Development Community Mission…