ADF

Security analysts are warning that internal strife between Somalia’s federal government and regional states is undermining the country’s counterinsurgency strategy and opening opportunities for terrorist groups. Al-Shabaab has launched a broad offensive in 2025, taking control of dozens of towns and villages in regions around Mogadishu, the increasingly isolated capital. “The group’s advances have taken place against a backdrop of Somalia’s increasingly fragmented domestic political landscape,” the Soufan Center think tank wrote in a July 24 brief. “Ongoing power struggles between the federal government of Somalia and member states like Puntland and Jubaland have undermined coordination and counterterrorism efforts.” The…

Ghana is strengthening its northern border by building forward operating bases and deploying troops to a troubled town. In a speech during a Government Accountability Series in July in Accra, Ghana’s then-Minister of Defence Dr. Edward Omane Boamah announced the plan, noting that terror groups are gaining ground in Burkina Faso and are determined to push south. “If the terrorists overcome the system in Burkina Faso, Ghana becomes the next target,” Boamah said. “And that is what makes managing the situation in Burkina Faso and its environs very, very important. Because it will be one of the entry points.” Tragically,…

A terrorist group that dominates the Lake Chad region collects about $191 million annually in taxes it imposes on farmers, livestock owners and fishermen, according to a new report by an independent nonprofit news organization. The New Humanitarian report compares the collections by the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) with those of the Borno State government in Nigeria’s northeast, where the terrorists operate. The study says Borno State collected $18.4 million in 2024, less than a 10th of ISWAP’s proceeds. The reported $191 million does not include revenue from other areas in Nigeria, earnings from kidnapping, or reward payments…

The gruesome killing of 16 men by an angry mob as they traveled through the city of Uromi in southern Nigeria has brought the problem of what’s called “jungle justice” into greater focus. The men reportedly were on a long journey north for Eid al-Fitr celebrations, but a group of vigilantes accosted them, thinking that the men were kidnappers or bandits. Their crime was traveling with homemade Dane guns, long-barreled flintlock muskets, Nigerian journalist Gbenga Aborowa said. “Sixteen lives lost in the most horrific way possible — not after a fair trial, not after evidence was presented,” he said in…

The Sahel objectives of the Kremlin’s Africa Corps are similar to those of Russia’s Wagner Group mercenaries: protect ruling juntas, gain access to natural resources, secure partnerships in infrastructure and energy, and undermine Western influence through propaganda campaigns. Because Wagner was a private company, Russia claimed it was not responsible for its actions, such as human rights violations including extrajudicial killings and torture. However, as the Timbuktu Institute noted in a recent report, the transition to Africa Corps ends Russia’s plausible deniability. “In fact, Africa Corps now officially engages the responsibility of the Russian state, whether for conduct on the…

As terrorist groups grow in sophistication and continue to expand beyond the Sahel, countries throughout West Africa are finding it is more important than ever to be unified and organized in defending themselves. The growing threat of al-Qaida and Islamic State group affiliates loomed over the 2025 West Africa Logistics Conference, cohosted by United States Africa Command (AFRICOM) and the Armed Forces of Liberia (AFL) in the capital, Monrovia, from August 5 to 8. More than 90 participants from 22 nations and organizations attended, including most West African countries and representatives from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).…

Massad Boulos, the United States government’s senior advisor on Arab and African Affairs, has conducted his first official visit to Libya, where rival governments vie for power. A Lebanon native, Boulos, also the U.S. State Department’s senior advisor for Africa, met with Government of National Unity (GNU) Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah in Tripoli and the Libyan National Army’s (LNA) Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar in Benghazi. Boulos emphasized the “importance of restoring calm, preventing violence and advancing political dialogue as we work together to enhance U.S.-Libyan cooperation that will benefit Americans and Libyans,” he wrote in a post on X.…

Ethiopia and Nigeria are joining forces to develop a fleet of African-made drones capable of both civilian and military applications. In recent weeks, Ethiopian officials hosted members of the Nigerian Air Force on tours of Ethiopia’s aircraft manufacturing and maintenance facilities. Nigeria has promised the Ethiopians a reciprocal visit focused on Nigeria’s military training institutions. The visits are the latest step toward increasing the number of indigenous African unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) in a market flooded by technology imported from China, Iran and Turkey. The collaboration is part of a broader demand — voiced repeatedly at this year’s Africa Chiefs…

The Islamic State West Africa Province terror group is waging war on remote military outposts in the Lake Chad region. The Institute for Security Studies recorded at least 15 ISWAP attacks in border zones this year. The bases targeted in the attacks were established to stabilize affected areas and allow displaced civilians to safely return home. A Boko Haram offshoot, ISWAP has demonstrated an evolution in its tactics during a campaign it calls Camp Holocaust. In early May, ISWAP fighters on motorcycles raided a Nigerian Army “supercamp” in Buni Gari in northeastern Yobe State; for years, the terror group relied heavily…

The year 2021 was marked by four coups in Africa. It was the crest of a wave of military rulers seizing power. After 10 years of relative stability on the continent, 10 coups took place between 2019 and 2023 in Burkina Faso, Chad, Gabon, Guinea, Mali (twice), Niger and Sudan (twice). United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called it “an epidemic” and spoke of an “environment in which some military leaders feel they have total impunity” and “can do whatever they want because nothing will happen to them.” Salah Ben Hammou, a postdoctoral research associate at Rice University, has studied and…