Border Security

ADF STAFF Border regions tend to be places of possibility and peril. They are where cultures meet. Where trade –– both legal and illegal –– thrives. Where journeys begin or end. Because they often are far from national capitals,…

ADF STAFF Cameroon’s long-running rebellion by its English-speaking minority has spilled across its western border into remote areas of Nigeria’s Cross River state, raising concerns among some observers about the potential for the conflict…

ADF STAFF Sixteen months after the Ethiopian government defeated rebels in its northern Tigray region with the help of Eritrea, remaining Eritrean Defence Forces troops have been abducting farmers and stealing livestock, according to…

ADF STAFF The Zambia Ministry of Defence in late October signed a five-year deal with United States company Landlock Natural Paving Inc. to construct 5,000 kilometers of road throughout the country’s 10 provinces. Construction is slated…

ADF STAFF West Africa has transitioned over the past decade from a transit route for illegal drugs headed to Europe from South America to a booming illegal drug market with a troubling rise in domestic users. That is among the…

ADF STAFF In his 39-year military career, Gen. Francis Ogolla has risen through the ranks, from pilot to air force commander and vice chief of the Kenya Defense Forces (KDF). On April 28, 2023, Kenyan President William Ruto appointed…

ADF STAFF A dramatic rise in attacks by al-Shabaab extremists has scuttled plans to reopen the border between Somalia and Kenya, which closed in 2011. Kenya’s Interior Cabinet Minister Kithure Kindiki made several visits to the region in…

ADF STAFF Benin’s W National Park sits on the country’s northern border, which has become the frontline in the battle to contain Sahel-based violent extremist organizations. With the W Park as a convenient entry point, that frontline is…

ADF STAFF Decades of simmering ethnic tensions in the northern Ghanaian town of Bawku recently boiled over into armed violence. Security forces have been deployed, and the conflict has captured the attention of the country and raised…

ADF STAFF In 2022, Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud ordered a major offensive against the al-Shabaab terror group. With the help of African Union forces, those military operations have yielded results. According to a March 2023…