Terrorism

ADF STAFF The African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS) was formed on April 1, 2022. By the end of its first year, it plans to begin drawing down troop strength. But as the country continues to be racked by near-constant attacks…

ADF STAFF Touhoulia Elie slumped in his chair in the middle of Mbah-Laindé village in Cameroon as he spoke to a reporter. The young farmer lifted his shirt to show the scars on his back, a painful reminder of being kidnapped by extremists…

ADF STAFF Photos by: AFP/GETTY IMAGES As young men prowled the streets of Mocímboa da Praia with machetes and AK-47s on October 5, 2017, some townspeople peered through windows in fear, recording the defiant march on their cellphones.…

ADF STAFF More than 30 websites in Mozambique, including the Defense Ministry’s, went down February 21, 2022, after being targeted by hackers. An image of a man wearing a headscarf and holding a machine gun appeared on the site along…

ADF STAFF Larba Mathieu Yougbare hunched over as he tried to loosen the firm, dry soil with a small hoe. Frustration was as evident on the farmer’s face as beading sweat. He returned to the eastern Burkina Faso city of Fada empty-handed.…

ADF STAFF The Lake Chad region boasts interconnected communities that share ethnic and economic ties across four countries. They have traded and intermingled with one another for centuries. But the arrival of Boko Haram has damaged these…

ADF STAFF After Burkina Faso’s second coup d’état on September 30, people took to the streets of Ouagadougou waving Russian flags. They gathered, in part, as a result of Russia’s relentless disinformation efforts, which paint Moscow as a…

ADF STAFF Two military coups in eight months in Burkina Faso have failed to deliver promised security but may be opening the door to greater Russian interference. Between the coup at the end of January and the second coup in September,…

ADF STAFF In August, terrorists in Mali killed 42 Malian Soldiers in an attack that combined artillery and truck bombs with the use of airborne drones. Across Africa, drones — both sophisticated military hardware and off-the-shelf hobby…

ADF STAFF Extremist groups are again trafficking weapons from Libya and other sources into the Sahel, signaling a potential escalation of violence. Analysts say the increase comes after a period of relatively low trafficking levels. “The…