Libya

ADF STAFF Soon after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a Russian cargo plane idled on a runway in Khartoum, Sudan. According to CNN, the plane’s manifest claimed it was loaded with cookies. When inspectors boarded the plane to confirm its…

ADF STAFF A decade after it was declared a supermarket for illegal arms traffickers, Libya once again has become a source of illegal weapons flowing into conflicts across the Sahel and neighboring coastal states. “The high demand for arms…

ADF STAFF In the months since the junta ruling Mali invited Russia’s Wagner Group into the country, more than 450 people have died in military actions carried out by Malian Armed Forces (FAMa) in partnership with Wagner mercenaries,…

ADF STAFF A newly created open-source website called “All Eyes on Wagner” tracks the activities of the mercenaries working for Russia’s Wagner Group in Africa and beyond. The site documents Wagner Group human rights abuses based on…

ADF STAFF The use of a self-guided drone on the Libyan battlefield may have been a first in Africa. Now experts are voicing concern about their expanded use. In March 2020, as fighters loyal to Libyan Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar…

ADF STAFF In Frederick Forsyth’s 1974 novel, “The Dogs of War,” a band of mercenaries slips into a small, fictional African nation at the direction of a Western tycoon bent on deposing the nation’s dictator to exploit valuable platinum.…

In Russia’s frenzied attempt to flex its muscles, get access to natural resources and increase its geopolitical relevance, it relies heavily on private military companies (PMCs). This strategy produces a small foreign footprint and offers…

ADF STAFF The increasing presence of Russia’s Wagner Group in Africa underlined the Kremlin’s continued efforts to exert its influence on the continent in 2021. The shadowy group of private military contractors garnered…

ADF STAFF In Madagascar, a webpage in the Malagasy language shows a cartoon of a Russian bear awakening from hibernation to save Africa from hyenas.  In Libya, an Arabic language website hails Saif al-Islam, son of the late dictator…

ADF STAFF Through its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), China has placed tens of thousands of workers in Africa to build Chinese-financed BRI infrastructure projects across the continent. Now, in an effort to protect its workers, China…