West Africa

ADF STAFF The spread of extremist violence in West Africa gave this year’s Exercise Flintlock an air of urgency, as counterterrorism training took center stage. Ghana Armed Forces Col. Richard Mensah, commander of the Joint Military…

ADF STAFF About 20% of illegally caught fish worldwide comes from waters near The Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mauritania, Senegal and Sierra Leone, according to a new report by news organization Investigative Journalism Reportika…

ADF STAFF Liberia and Senegal took a significant step in their fight to end illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing in February when the countries signed a memorandum of understanding aimed at promoting and facilitating…

ADF STAFF The rapid growth of internet use across West Africa is prompting calls for the region to cooperate on cybersecurity. A joint approach can protect private citizens, business, government institutions and critical infrastructure…

ADF STAFF To prepare security forces to face a wide range of evolving threats, Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo announced that the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) will establish a war college. Established with money from the Ghana Education…

ADF STAFF Africa is less safe and less democratic than a decade ago, but there is still hope. The Mo Ibrahim Foundation published the stark conclusions of the latest Ibrahim Index of African Governance on January 25, 2023. But they have…

ADF STAFF Members of the Royal Moroccan Armed Forces knifed through the Gulf of Guinea in two speeding patrol boats. Their destination: a massive vessel on the horizon. They arrived in minutes. “One by one, one by one,” one of them…

ADF STAFF There was no gunfire in Banjul, the capital of The Gambia, on December 20, 2022, or the next day when the government announced it had thwarted an attempted coup. What began with rumors ended with an official statement. “Based…

ADF STAFF Many rural West African communities rely on donkeys as a source of labor, transport and income. Traditional Chinese medicine values donkeys for their skins. In recent years, China has been unable to meet its high demand for…

ADF STAFF To help authorities detect illegal fishing, a new study combined the identities of 35,000 vessels with a decade of GPS data to offer a worldwide assessment of fishing compliance, fishing by foreign-owned trawlers and reflagging…