Benin

ADF STAFF Five years after its formation, Accra Initiative has agreed to assemble a multinational military force to help stop the spread of violent extremism spilling out of the Sahel toward West African coastal nations. A meeting of the…

ADF STAFF Mali’s decision to quit the G5 Sahel Joint Force in May has sent ripples of insecurity across the region. In speaking to the United Nations Security Council at the time, U.N. Assistant Secretary-General for Africa Martha Ama…

ADF STAFF Since early 2020, Mali has banned the export of rosewood, also known as kosso. Despite that, nearly 150,000 tons of the wood — equal to 220,000 trees — left the country over the last two years, all of it with a single…

ADF STAFF Founded in 1925, Virunga is Africa’s oldest national park. It is one of the continent’s most biologically diverse conservation areas and is home to one-third of the planet’s endangered wild mountain gorillas. The park is located…

ADF STAFF As terrorism spreads south from the Sahel toward the Gulf of Guinea, Ghana stands out among its neighbors for its lack of attacks. But experts are warning that the country might be living on borrowed time. Professor Emmanuel…

ADF STAFF As extremists launched murderous assaults on Burkinabe churches in 2019, neighboring Ghana took note. In preceding years, Islamist-backed terrorism and violence, born in Mali and spreading south, had infiltrated Burkina Faso…

ADF STAFF Benin’s military is working to reassure communities in its northern border areas that it can protect the region from further terrorist incursions from Burkina Faso, Mali and elsewhere in the Sahel. “The Beninese army is…

ADF STAFF Increasing attacks in northern Togo have targeted civilians and military personnel — yet another sign of Sahel terror groups progressively expanding and threatening coastal West Africa. Togo declared a “state of security…

ADF STAFF Checkpoints line the road between Tanguieta and Porga in northern Benin as Soldiers in armored vehicles patrol the region for terrorist activity. This normally quiet corner of West Africa has seen four terrorist attacks since…

ADF STAFF Benin became the first African nation to commit to publicly share data about fishing vessels in its waters when it partnered with Global Fishing Watch (GFW) in May. Benin will establish a vessel-monitoring system (VMS)…