weapons trafficking

ADF STAFF African security officials are joining the global effort to end the flow of illicit small arms and light weapons that drive so much of the violence plaguing nations across the continent. During gatherings in Nairobi, Kenya, and…

ADF STAFF Nine crew members aboard a chemical tanker headed from Côte d’Ivoire to Cameroon were abducted by pirates in January as the ship sailed near Equatorial Guinea. Piracy is one of many sea crimes prevalent in the Gulf of…

ADF STAFF More than a decade of violent conflicts in the Sahel has given rise to the thriving business of firearms trafficking, in which demand far outpaces supply. With a 2022 population of 4.2 million, Mali’s capital city of Bamako is…

ADF STAFF Plans to hold a national election in Libya have sputtered for years. Abdulaye Bathily, the United Nations envoy to Libya, in late November urged the country’s rival factions to select representatives for a meeting aimed at…

CYRUS OMBATI, THE STAR Kenya has nearly fulfilled one of its commitments to regional and international treaties on arms control as it nears completion of marking official firearms and ammunition.  The National Police Service has…

ADF STAFF The 2023 ENACT Organized Crime Index for Africa explicitly links armed conflict and a lack of democratic institutions to an increase in organized crime. The report, authored by the Global Initiative Against Transnational…

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 Political instability, disputes between farmers and herders, unemployment, ethnic divisions, and the rise of extremist organizations are among the factors driving the spread of small arms and light weapons in the Sahel and West…

ADF STAFF The Nigeria Customs Service in mid-July seized 31 weapons, including pump action rifles, various pistols and 442 rounds of ammunition, at two ports in Lagos. The weapons were hidden in plastic drums and sacks of charcoal.…

ADF STAFF Decades of warfare, corruption and ethnic conflict have left West Africa awash in small arms that continue to fuel instability and extremism across the region. Although numbers are difficult to pin down, some experts estimate…