Niger

ADF STAFF Three military-led countries — Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger — dealt a blow to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) when they announced that they will leave the regional bloc. It was one of several blows that…

ADF STAFF The Wagner Group may have a new name for its operations in Africa, but it’s the same Russian mercenary outfit that has pillaged mineral wealth and left a trail of atrocities across the continent. The future of the shadowy group…

ADF STAFF Deep in Benin’s Pendjari National Park, a former luxury resort has become a military base. There, Soldiers are tracking the movements of extremists coming and going from neighboring Burkina Faso in an effort to stop a surge in…

ADF STAFF The rise of ethnic militias in recent years threatens conflict-ridden western Niger, near the tri-border area with Burkina Faso and Mali. Two groups in particular, the garde nomade, a group of former Tuareg rebels integrated…

ADF STAFF In September, terrorists fired three rockets at a ferry on the Niger River, killing 49 people. Witnesses said the victims, all civilians, drowned or were burned to death. The terrorists reportedly were members of the…

ADF STAFF Just 2,700 kilometers separate northeastern Brazil from the western coast of Africa. Traffickers use this proximity to move cocaine, hashish and heroin through West African ports on to destinations all over the world. Drugs…

ADF STAFF Two Malian Army aircraft came under gunfire from rebels in mid-August when they landed at a United Nations Multidimensional Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) camp in Tessalit. While the Malian Army said the attack…

ADF STAFF Seven Nigerien Soldiers died during a late September battle with hundreds of insurgents on motorbikes in Kandadji, a southwestern Nigerien town near the tri-border area with Burkina Faso and Mali. Five more Soldiers died in…

ADF STAFF Mali’s ruling junta took power in 2021 proclaiming that it would do what previous leaders had not: put an end to extremist terror in the country. Two years later, the junta has little to show for its efforts and has begun to…

ADF STAFF The recent military coup in Niger has not made life easier for Nigeriens or people in the wider region. Economic sanctions closed the bustling border between Niger and Nigeria, halting roughly $1.3 billion worth of annual trade.…