Africa Defense Forum - Africa Defense Forum

For the women of a self-help group in Tuluroba, Kenya, the goal was simple: Use their combined savings to buy cattle, fatten them and sell them to the beef industry. But there was a problem. “We had no land to graze the cattle. Nor could…

Ethiopia has passed a law giving almost 1 million refugees the right to work and live outside of camps, in a move praised for providing them with more dignity and reducing reliance on foreign aid. Home to Africa’s second-largest refugee…

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE A giant screen flickers to life in a remote village in the equatorial forest of the Central African Republic. About 200 villagers take in an evening of films, thanks to a traveling cinema team that aims to entertain…

VOICE OF AMERICA For the first time, half of the global population — 3.9 billion people — is using the internet.  An International Telecommunication Union (ITU) report says Africa is the region with the strongest growth, where the…

REUTERS Rwanda has signed a $400 million deal to produce bottled gas from Lake Kivu, which emits such dense clouds of methane it is known as one of Africa’s “killer lakes.” The project by Gasmeth Energy, owned by U.S. and Nigerian…

Journalists in The Gambia have launched a self-regulatory body they hope will offer legitimacy and more freedom to media emerging from a dictatorship that ruled the tiny West African nation for more than two decades. During the 22 years of…

The pharaohs of ancient Egypt were fascinated by a distant place known as the Land of Punt, or simply Punt. It was regarded as a land of plenty, with rich resources. Some called it Ta Netjer — God’s Land. But it was more than a trading…

CLUES The ruins of this ancient city include obelisks, stone pillars, royal tombs and castles. The kingdom, at the crossroads of Africa, Arabia and the Greco-Roman world, once was the most powerful state between Persia and the…

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE Africa draws just 5 percent of the world’s tourists despite boasting attractions ranging from the Great Pyramids and Victoria Falls to wildlife safaris and endless strips of pristine beaches. But the continent’s…

U.S. Africa Command Staff There was a time when a military commander could comfortably say, “I’m not a computer person” or “I don’t really use the internet.” That attitude is no longer an option. Being a security professional today…