Horn of Africa

ADF STAFF Turkey’s growing presence in Africa is undeniable, and it’s by design. With its eyes on expanding influence, Turkey has significantly increased its engagement on the continent in recent years. Turkish trade is booming, as its…

ADF STAFF Gunfire echoed between sleek glass buildings in Addis Ababa on April 12. The city’s relative peace was shattered by a shootout between security forces and three members of an Amhara militant group. One of Ethiopia’s many ethnic…

ADF STAFF With smoke grenades providing cover, a platoon of Soldiers from Djibouti, Kenya, Somalia and Tanzania exchanged fire with violent extremists and searched a makeshift village, building by building. A Kenyan Air Force F-5E Tiger…

ADF STAFF Somaliland is an autonomous breakaway state in northern Somalia that has persistently pursued independence for 33 years. It has state institutions, a military, and functioning political and economic systems. The United Kingdom…

ADF STAFF What began as Ethiopia’s aspiration to regain access to the Red Sea turned into a threat of force against its coastal neighbors in late 2023 and is now fueling fears of war. Last year, critics in the Horn of Africa region…

ADF STAFF A United Nations helicopter in mid-January was conducting a medical evacuation when a technical problem forced it to make an emergency landing in an area long controlled by al-Shabaab in central Somalia. The terror group…

ADF STAFF The Djiboutian Coast Guard in early November learned forensic water sampling and fingerprint collection skills that will assist criminal investigations involving water contamination and drug trafficking. The training was…

ADF STAFF Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi’s three-country tour of Africa in mid-July marked the first time the controversial country’s president has visited the continent in more than 11 years. Raisi’s government has made a point of…

ADF STAFF Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s call for direct port access on the Red Sea has Horn of Africa observers concerned about a new conflict in the battle-scarred region. Ethiopia lost direct access to the sea in 1993 when…

ADF STAFF Tanzanians Abdirahman Shaffi Mkwatili and Sadam Jafari Kitia were lost in northern Kenya, hundreds of kilometers off course when security agents arrested them on July 12. They had nearly reached the country’s border, but it was…