ADF

Angola has made significant progress in clearing land mines and other unexploded ordnance left over from the country’s 27-year civil war. These efforts have made previously hazardous areas safe for agriculture, housing and community development projects, but work remains. Angola’s Benguela and Huambo provinces are expected to be completely free of mines this year. Benguela is in western Angola on the Atlantic coast. Huambo is in central Angola. Brig. Gen. Leonardo Severino Sapalo, Angola’s director-general of the National Mine Action Agency, spoke about the progress after a visit by a multicountry delegation of diplomats to see the work of Halo Trust,…

Political and military analyst Gregoire Cyrille Dongobada has authored more than 75 articles in two and a half years, reporting about more than a dozen West African countries. Originally from the Central African Republic, he is now based in Paris. Dongobada has used his expert analysis to focus on French and Russian roles in the African security sector with headlines such as, “The reasons for anti-French sentiment in West Africa” and “France’s jealousy of the successes of the Russian presence in Mali.” There is a problem, however: Gregoire Cyrille Dongobada doesn’t exist. A recent investigation into “ghost reporters” by Al…

With several arrests in the past year, Liberia is the latest West African country to clamp down on illegal mining operations conducted by Chinese nationals. Sen. Albert Tugbe Chie recently condemned the economic and environmental damage caused by unregulated miners, including land degradation and the pollution of rivers from dredging operations, which are prohibited by the Ministry of Mines and Energy (MME). “These activities are not only illegal but also rob the county and the country of much-needed revenue while leaving behind environmental devastation,” he said during an April 10 speech in Barclayville, according to The Liberian Investigator news website.…

Faced with continuing terror attacks, Burkina Faso’s ruling military junta has tried to silence citizens and journalists who report on or criticize its actions. Security Minister Mahamadou Sana recently issued a warning on Facebook against citizens liking or sharing content that the junta considered to be incitement of terrorism. Sana based the warning on what he described as “malicious content in the form of posts, photos or videos inciting terrorism and conveying false news” on social media. Terrorist groups frequently post videos or reports of their attacks on government forces to social media. Those accounts often contradict the government’s official…

As peacekeeping missions stretch miliary resources, governments are increasingly turning their attention to partnering with private companies to shoulder the load. Supporters of public-private partnership (PPP) arrangements see them as a way to strengthen the African continent’s military capabilities by harnessing innovations from the private sector. “By fostering collaborations between government entities and private industry we can revitalize existing capabilities, integrate cutting-edge technologies suited for purpose, and ensure that our defense forces and security cluster are well equipped to meet the contemporary challenges they face,” Daniel du Plessis told defenceWeb during the 2025 Public-Private Partnerships for Defense and Security Conference…

Security forces in Somalia’s autonomous northeastern Puntland region have made significant progress in ridding the area of the Islamic State group in Somalia (ISSOM). Since November, the Puntland Defense Forces (PDF) has waged war on the group in a campaign known as Operation Hilaac. Clan militias; the Puntland Darawish, a regional paramilitary unit; and the Puntland Maritime Police Force participated in the operation, which recently has reclaimed swaths of mountainous territory from ISSOM. In late April, Darawish forces killed more than 40 ISSOM fighters during operations in the Togga Miiraale area of the Cal Miskaad mountain range. “Our forces dealt a…

Militant Islamist violence in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger is continuing to expand to the west and south, threatening coastal nations from Mauritania to Nigeria. Violence linked to terror groups affiliated with al-Qaida and the Islamic State group (IS) has steadily increased in scale and scope in recent years. Fatalities linked to these groups are more than two and a half times the levels recorded in 2020 when the first of Mali’s military coups occurred, the Africa Center for Strategic Studies (ACSS) reported. Increased insecurity also came after subsequent coups in Burkina Faso and Niger. “The continued southward and westward…

In the wake of the success of aerial drones, naval forces are exploring ways to use uncrewed surface vessels to address maritime threats. The drone ships, also known as USVs, can be as small as a meter or as large as 100 meters and are controlled by operators on land or navigate autonomously using sensors. They have clear advantages over traditional vessels: They are cheaper, operate in all weather and don’t put Sailors at risk. “These advances have turned USVs into a genuine force multiplier,” Matthew Ratsey of the company Zero USV told South Africa’s Engineering News. “They extend the…

Terrorism is a crime of opportunity. Global terror groups search out the world’s most vulnerable areas and plant their flags there.  Countries with porous borders, ethnic strife, governmental neglect and a young, frustrated population are ripe for exploitation. Africa is not spared from this global phenomenon.  In Mozambique, the Sahel, Somalia and coastal West Africa, extremists are active and looking to expand. The Sahel now is the global epicenter of terrorism, accounting for 43% of the world’s terrorism deaths in 2023. In 2007, that figure was only 1%.  Burkina Faso is in the eye of the Sahel’s terror storm. More…

Amina J. Mohammed of Nigeria is deputy secretary-general of the United Nations and chair of the U.N. Sustainable Development Group. She spoke on April 22, 2024, at the High-Level African Counter-Terrorism Meeting in Abuja, Nigeria. The theme was “Strengthening Regional Cooperation and Institution Building to Address the Evolving Threat of Terrorism in Africa.” Her comments have been edited for space and clarity. Terrorism continues to pose a significant threat to global peace, stability and sustainable development. Deaths from terrorism in the world rose to 8,352 in 2023, a 22% increase from the prior year and the highest level since 2017.…