Boko Haram

ADF STAFF Months of battlefield losses and hundreds of defections appeared to weaken Boko Haram, but it has not stopped the extremists from continuing to terrorize the Lake Chad Basin. Experts say that because the group has shown an…

ADF STAFF After forming alliances with military-led juntas in the Sahel, Russia might be moving its influence campaign south by supporting social unrest in Nigeria. During a 10-day August protest demanding better governance, some…

ADF STAFF A string of suicide bombings in northern Nigeria might indicate that extremists are feeling pressure from successful military campaigns, according to observers. The recent bombings in Gwoza, Borno State, were the first suicide…

ADF STAFF Ismai’l remembers the day Boko Haram changed his life. Sitting in the shade outside his displaced family’s makeshift shelter in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State, he said he turned to drugs to forget. “I began using…

ADF STAFF Troop morale was high when the Multinational Joint Task Force launched Operation Lake Sanity 2 on April 23 and immediately began making headway against the violent extremist organizations that have terrorized the region for…

ADF STAFF Militaries can no longer assume they dominate the skies. Extremist groups are increasingly using drones to conduct surveillance, guide mortar attacks, and deploy as miniature, airborne weapons platforms. The widespread…

ADF STAFF The African Union has authorized more than 25 peace support operations across the continent over the past 20-plus years, but few have included community-oriented policing (COP) to counter extremism. Meressa Dessu, a senior…

ADF STAFF Hunger in Chad typically peaks from June to August in the lean season between harvests, but this year is looking far worse because of a major influx of mouths to feed. More than 700,000 Sudanese refugees have arrived in Chad…

ADF STAFF In a region of Nigeria plagued by terror attacks, people have banded together to fight back with a powerful weapon: the truth. Based in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State, the Truth Alliance is a network of civil society…

ADF STAFF Sitting in the ochre dirt courtyard of her home in Pala in southwest Chad, Béatrice Naguita stared blankly into the distance as she recounted her April 2023 ordeal. “Around 1:00 a.m., armed men came into my father’s house and…