Mali

ADF STAFF Senior leaders from land forces across Africa gathered in Côte d’Ivoire in May for the 2023 African Land Forces Summit (ALFS). It was an opportunity to discuss the shared threats they face and the need for cooperation as…

ADF STAFF Tuareg community leader Sheikh Mohamed and his family were among the hundreds of Talataye residents who fled their homes after militants affiliated with the Islamic State group attacked in September 2022. It was part of an…

ADF STAFF Sometimes it starts with a violent threat written in graffiti on a school wall. When heavily armed extremists arrive on motorcycles, the terror ensues — teachers are shot, kidnapped, raped. Some are executed in front of the…

ADF STAFF Burkina Faso has struggled with extremist violence pouring out of neighboring Mali since 2015. But November 14, 2021, became a tipping point for the Sahelian nation.  That morning, extremist gunmen stormed a military police…

ADF STAFF The brutal attack lasted about six hours. When it was over, at least 156 people were dead. Some of the victims were blindfolded, some were babies under a month old, killed on their mothers’ backs. The late April…

ADF STAFF Extremist rebel groups in Mali have long trafficked cocaine, engaged in illegal gold mining and kidnapping hostages for ransom to fund their operations. As groups such as the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS)…

ADF STAFF In mid-2020, the Central African Republic’s Constitutional Court denied President Faustin-Archange Touadéra’s request to delay the 2020 elections because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Almost immediately afterward, claims began…

ADF STAFF Now that Burkina Faso’s junta has forced French troops to leave the country, analysts say Russia’s Wagner Group mercenaries could fill the void. Mamadou Drabo, executive secretary for junta-aligned civic group Save Burkina, told…

ADF STAFF A recent militant attack in central Mali illustrated the extreme challenges facing the United Nations peacekeeping mission, known as MINUSMA, and its uncertain future in the violence plagued country. Three suicide car bombs and…

ADF STAFF Experts say an Islamic State group affiliate’s recent actions in northeast Mali signal that the group has entered a new phase and believes it is unchallenged by the military-led government. The extremists seized the northeast…