You are currently viewing a placeholder content from Default. To access the actual content, click the button below. Please note that doing so will share data with third-party providers.
ADF STAFF
Central African journalist Ephrem Yalike-Ngonzo recalls the first time he was approached by a Russian man named Micha who offered him 200,000 CFA francs (about $320) per month to spread disinformation and propaganda for the Kremlin.
The year was 2019, and the money was more than twice his salary as editor-in-chief of a local pro-government news website called Le Potentiel Centrafricain.
“In the Central African media, few people earn more than 150,000 CFA francs (about $240),” Yalike told Radio France Internationale.
Yalike exposed Russia’s sprawling disinformation operation in the Central African Republic (CAR) as part of a two-year investigation by Forbidden Stories, a group of investigative journalists who teamed with 10 media partners, including French newspaper Le Monde and RFI.
“It is important for me to share this story so that justice can be done,” he told The Associated Press for a November 21 article. “To denounce the disrespect of human rights, and to expose the disinformation system which can be replicated in other countries.”
Forbidden Stories identified “Micha” as Mikhail Mikhailovitch Prudnikov, a Russian agent with close ties to the infamous Wagner Group mercenaries. For three years Yalike wrote stories praising the Russian mercenaries and the CAR military government.
He quit working at Le Potentiel in early 2020 when Prudnikov hired him to lead Wagner’s relations with the local media for 500,000 CFA francs (more than $800) a month. He was given 30 smartphones, which he distributed to young people who were chosen as influencers on social media platforms to share, comment on and “like” Wagner’s fake news.
Yalike and Prudnikov met regularly at the Roux military camp, Wagner’s headquarters in the capital, Bangui, to coordinate an extensive, systematic disinformation machine.
Prudnikov paid him at different places: the base, a hotel in the city or at Radio Lengo Songo, a radio station created and funded by Wagner. Yalike said Prudnikov also gave him money to distribute to other local writers whose assignments he coordinated. He paid editors to place the fake news stories and paid radio station managers to feature “experts” who also were paid to share their pro-Russian opinions.
Yalike organized demonstrations meant to appear as though the Central African people were opposed to France, the United Nations and the West. At Wagner’s base he saw Russians use a printing press to make posters and banners for demonstrations that they financed.
“These demonstrations have never emanated from the will of the people,” he told RFI. “They are always orchestrated. I gave the money to one of the leaders so that he could redistribute it. It’s 2,000 francs per young person, normally. During these demonstrations, I am also supposed to invite local media to come and cover this and relay it. To each media, I give 10,000 francs.”
Among his responsibilities, Yalike also worked to suppress criticism of the government. In time, he became disillusioned with the work and had a change of heart.
“I realized it was against my conscience,” he told the AP. “This was not journalism. … They were pushing me: You should do this, you should write about this.”
Hired in 2018 to protect and prop up the regime of Faustin-Archange Touadéra, Wagner mercenaries have faced credible accusations of war crimes, atrocities and human rights abuses against Central African civilians.
Wagner has taken advantage of CAR’s fragile institutions and army to develop “a blueprint for state capture,” according to a report by investigative watchdog The Sentry. Wagner mercenaries train the army on torture tactics, including cutting off hands, removing fingernails and burning people alive, according to the report.
Yalike was told to cover up abuses and atrocities committed by Wagner fighters. By then, he wanted to quit but was afraid of his Russian handlers.
“It all started with the tragic fate reserved for five Wagner tanker truck drivers accused of fuel theft and violently tortured in Ndachima before being transferred and incarcerated in the Roux camp prison for almost a year,” publisher Alain Nzilo wrote in an article on his website, Corbeau News, on March 5, 2024.
Military sources told Corbeau that Wagner suspected Yalike had committed treason by leaking details of the Ndachima story.
“They accused me of writing it,” he told the AP. “There were a lot of hidden threats. … I was scared for my life.”
Yalike decided to flee his homeland after Prudnikov took him outside of Bangui, questioned him at gunpoint and threatened his life. In early 2024, Yalike managed to get his wife and child out before crossing into a neighboring country and leaving the continent for good.
“When you get into this system, it’s hard to get out,” he told RFI.
Other journalists in the CAR continue to work for the Russians, but Nzilo emphasizes Yalike’s story as a cautionary tale.
“This series of tragedies highlights the dangers that await those who venture to work for Wagner,” he wrote.
Now safely abroad, Yalike said he feels shame and regret but is heartened by his belief that Russian propaganda has failed in its most basic objective.
“People do not have a positive view of the Russians,” he told the AP. “But everyone is afraid to say so.”
The post Russian Disinformation Machine in CAR Exposed appeared first on Africa Defense Forum.
ADF STAFF
Increasing instability in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger has created an opening for Turkey to deploy private military contractors to the region. However, the deployment comes as Islamic extremists are inflicting casualties on Russian contractors and may turn their weapons on Turkey’s fighters as well, analysts say.
Earlier this year, Turkey’s Sadat International Defense Consultancy, a private military contractor closely allied with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, sent 1,100 fighters recruited from Syrian refugee camps to Niger.
The fighters were positioned in the hotly contested Liptako-Gourma region, where the three Sahelian countries meet. Violence perpetrated in that region by groups such as Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) has helped make the Sahel the world’s leading location for terrorism.
Turkey said the fighters are in Niger to consult and guard Turkish interests, such as mines. That has not kept them out of harm’s way, however.
“In Niger, Syrian mercenaries are supposed to guard mines, oil installations or military bases,” Rami Abdel-Rahman, director of the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH), told Le Monde. “But they then find themselves involved in fighting against jihadist groups. Nine of these Syrian fighters have died to date.”
Turkey is ramping up its involvement in Niger at the same time that Russian mercenaries with Africa Corps, formerly the Wagner Group, have failed to defeat extremist fighters across the region. Russian mercenaries have suffered notable defeats, including an ambush by Tuareg fighters in July in Mali that killed dozens of Africa Corps fighters and Malian soldiers.
Mali and Burkina Faso invited Wagner fighters after deposing democratically elected governments and demanding that French counterterrorism forces depart. Niger also recruited Africa Corps fighters after its own coup in 2023.
Niger, which had a strong relationship with Turkey before its coup, received six Turkish Bayraktar TB2 drones in 2022. The post-coup relationship was strengthened in July at meetings that opened the door to Turkey sending mercenaries into the country.
“Turkey also has opportunities to increase economic and military cooperation with Burkina Faso and Mali, but Russia’s larger presence in both countries will pose a greater obstacle,” analyst Liam Karr wrote for the Institute for the Study of War.
To staff their mercenary groups, Russia and Turkey have recruited heavily from Syria. Until its collapse in early December 2024, the Syrian government had received crucial support from Russia. Turkey, Syria’s neighbor to the north, recruits its fighters from those displaced by the Syrian civil war.
Syrian opposition members such as Abu Mohammed, who spoke to the media using a pseudonym, told the BBC that Turkey’s offer of $1,500 for a six-month term — about five times the pay from Syrian opposition forces — overcame their reluctance about joining Sadat.
Another Syrian recruit, identified as Ahmed, told Agence France-Presse in May that a Turkey-backed Syrian militia called the Sultan Murad Division recruited him to serve in Niger. He said several groups already had gone to training camps before being deployed.
“The first two batches of fighters have already gone, and a third batch will follow soon,” he said.
When they reach Niger, Sadat fighters can find the reality on the ground different from what they were promised. Some have reported being placed under Russian command and fighting extremists in Liptako-Gourma.
Although Turkey claims Sadat fighters are in the Sahel simply to protect its economic interests, their presence alone might be enough to make them a target for the same extremists that are targeting Russian fighters, according to analyst Jacob Zenn.
In that case, Sadat might learn the same lesson Africa Corps is learning: Private military contractors are not enough to defeat the region’s extremist groups, Zenn wrote recently for the Orion Policy Institute.
“The security situation in the region is unlikely to improve unless more serious issues related to political representation are addressed,” Zenn wrote. “If the underlying political issues are not addressed, it is possible that not only the region’s juntas, but also Turkey and Russia will find themselves evicted from the region at the hands of JNIM.”
The post Turkey Adds Mercenaries to Sahel’s Violent Mix appeared first on Africa Defense Forum.
ADF STAFF
The Tunisian Air Force continues to expand its transport fleet with the addition of a another C-130 Hercules plane from the United States. It is the third such plane delivered to Tunisia since 2021.
The aircraft was handed over during a November 18 ceremony at Sidi Ahmed Air Base in Bizerte, presided over by the Chief of Staff of the Tunisian Air Force, Lt. Gen. Mohamed Hajem and Defense Minister Khaled Sehili.
The delivery of the C-130H aircraft, valued at a total of 36 million Tunisian dinars ($12 million), continues to expand the Tunisian Air Force’s air transport capability, according to a U.S. Embassy statement. “This delivery is part of the U.S.-Tunisian joint strategy to increase the Tunisian Ministry of Defence and the Tunisian Air Force’s ability to provide peace and security in the region and globally.”
The Tunisian Air Force now has five C-130 Hercules aircraft in service. They join two C-130 Super Hercules — stretched versions of the plane — that were delivered in April 2013 and January 2015. Ten other Hercules are stored or preserved.
Earlier this year, the Tunisian Air Force sent two of its C-130s to Singapore for cockpit upgrades, such as large-format LCD displays, flight controls, air data and altitude sensors. Technicians also installed digital instruments, multifunctional displays, and an array of peripherals such as weather radar, a traffic collision avoidance system and advanced flight controls, defenceWeb reported. The retrofits are designed to provide improved safety, better flexibility and efficiency, and easier maintenance for pilots and crew.
The C-130 is a four-engine turboprop military transport plane that first was produced in the U.S. in 1955. Updated versions still are being made. It was designed to airlift troops over medium distances and land on short, basic airfields. It is the largest plane ever to land on an aircraft carrier. About 70 countries have acquired C-130s over the years, and more than 2,500 of the planes have been produced. There are more than 40 variations on the standard C-130. Forbes magazine has predicted that the C-130 likely will become the first military aircraft in history to stay in continuous service for 100 years.
Tunisia’s Air Force has been steadily upgrading its fleet for several years. In September, the Air Force improved its intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities by acquiring four Textron Aviation C-208B Grand Caravan EX aircraft from the U.S. This strategic addition aims to strengthen Tunisia’s ability to address national and regional security challenges, Military Africa reported. The Tunisian Grand Caravan EX planes are configured for intelligence missions, with night vision capabilities and other sophisticated surveillance equipment. Although unarmed, these aircraft are designed to provide critical real-time data and intelligence, improving Tunisia’s ability to monitor and respond to threats.
The $54 million deal had a comprehensive support package with spare parts, flight training, technical drawings, logistics support and ground support equipment. This ensures that the Tunisian Air Force can maintain and operate the aircraft effectively.
In July 2023, the Air Force took delivery of the first four of eight Beechcraft T-6C Texan II trainers. Times Aerospace reported that the training aircraft were essential to Tunisia’s aviation modernization plans up to 2030. The planes are assigned to a squadron at Sfax air base and will help strengthen security along the southern border and thwart cross-border smuggling and terrorism.
The post Tunisia Upgrades Air Fleet with C-130 appeared first on Africa Defense Forum.
ADF STAFF
More than 930,000 people have fled Sudan’s civil war for eastern Chad, the majority of them arriving in the Ouaddaï province, where locals already faced extreme poverty and ethnic tensions.
The Sudanese refugees are mostly women and children from North Darfur and West Darfur, whose capital, Al-Geneina, was the scene of abuses against non-Arab populations in 2023.
The large influx of refugees traumatized by the atrocities committed by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Sudan is “importing new grievances against the Arab community, which are fueling the prejudices of Ouaddaïans,” according to a new report by the International Crisis Group (ICG).
These overlapping resentments “reinforce the community fractures already present in a region that experienced another major refugee crisis during the war in Darfur in the 2000s,” the report said.
The number of refugees in eastern Chad is likely to increase, but humanitarian aid already is insufficient to meet the needs of refugees and locals. The United Nations and nongovernmental organizations are offering emergency assistance at the border, but the cessation of imports from Sudan is causing higher prices in areas with low employment rates.
According to the ICG, the situation has prompted hundreds of young Chadians to “join armed groups in Sudan in the hope of getting rich.”
There also is the risk of conflict between Chad and Sudan as Sudan’s civil war grinds on. Chadian President Mahamat Déby has proclaimed neutrality in the war, but analysts say he has made business deals with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) that bring his stance into question. The UAE is the primary international sponsor of the RSF.
The deals include a $1.5 billion Emirati loan in June 2023 that included increased security, energy and mining cooperation between the two countries, and an October 2024 UAE loan of $500 million.
The ICG also reported that Déby’s government gave “tacit consent” for the UAE to supply the RSF with weapons and equipment from Chad. Emirati cargo planes regularly land in Chad after cutting off their transponders to avoid being detected, but Chad and the UAE deny they are arming the RSF.
In early November, Sudan filed a complaint against Chad over its support for the RSF with the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights. Chadian authorities responded by accusing Sudan of supporting armed groups in Chad.
Citing telephone interviews with security sources in October 2024, the ICG also reported that about 1,000 Chadian Soldiers have defected. This aligns with Sudan War Monitor reporting about desertions from the Chadian Army to the Darfur Joint Protection Force in Sudan.
Increasing threats of Boko Haram attacks in western Chad further strain its military.
In October, 40 Chadian Soldiers and an unknown number of civilians were killed in an attack on a military base in the Lake Chad area. The rebel fighters seized weapons as they escaped, according to Chad’s military. The attack prompted Déby to launch an operation to dislodge Boko Haram from the area.
Déby also appealed to the international community to intensify its support for counterterrorism measures in the Sahel and the Lake Chad Basin.
“Determined collective action is essential to eradicate this scourge, which threatens the stability and the development of the entire region,” the government said in a statement published by spokesperson Abderaman Koulamalla.
In mid-November 2024, Boko Haram killed 17 Chadian Soldiers in a weekend attack on a military post that also left 96 insurgents dead in the Lake Chad region, the Chadian Army said.
In March, an attack the government blamed on Boko Haram killed seven Soldiers, according to a joint report by Rédaction Africanews and The Associated Press.
The post Sudan War Destabilizes Eastern Chad appeared first on Africa Defense Forum.
ADF STAFF
At first glance, and by design, Russian Houses in Africa appear to be like any other nation’s cultural exchange centers.
On its Facebook page, the Russian House in Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic (CAR), calls itself “an educational and cultural platform.”
They are closely linked to Rossotrudnichestvo, the official Russian agency for international cooperation. But experts and investigative journalists say Russian Houses are central to the Kremlin’s vast disinformation and propaganda operation on the continent.
Rossotrudnichestvo signed agreements in 2024 to formally establish Russian Houses in the CAR, Chad, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Somalia. It intends to expand further, according to a January 2024 article from the African Initiative, a news agency that is operated by Russia’s primary security and intelligence agency.
“Such agreements represent only the visible part of Russia’s presence in these countries, often serving as the formalization of an already well-established network of influence,” Foreign Policy Research Institute fellow Olena Snigyr wrote in a November 8 analysis. “The Russian House in CAR is widely regarded as a humanitarian front for the activities of the former Wagner Group.”
The Russian House in Bangui opened informally in 2021 before being recognized by Rossotrudnichestvo in 2024. It is run by Dimitri Sytyi, who controls the mercenary Wagner Group’s presence in the CAR and reportedly uses the Russian House as a logistics hub for Wagner’s gold, diamond and timber trafficking operations.
Maxime Audinet, a researcher at the Institute for Strategic Research at the Military School, believes the plan to expand the use of Russian Houses in Africa is an important cog in a relentless information war being waged on African people.
“This reflects a desire to reinforce public and cultural diplomacy,” he told Radio France Internationale. “It symbolizes an intention to put down roots.”
Rossotrudnichestvo, which reports to the Russian Foreign Ministry, was sanctioned by the European Union and had its assets frozen in July 2022 for operating what the bloc described as a network of “agents of influence” spreading Kremlin disinformation after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Although some Russian Houses elsewhere in the world have been accused of harboring spies, in Africa the connections between Russian Houses and Wagner are unmistakable.
Maxim Shugaley, formerly part of Russia’s troll farm known as the Internet Research Agency, is notorious for spreading pro-Russian propaganda and has close ties to Wagner. He visited the Russian House in Niger in 2024 and was arrested in Chad in September 2024 before a planned visit to the Russian House in N’Djamena.
“[It’s] a way for the Chadians to draw red lines and say that they don’t want this kind of person on their territory,” Ivan Klyszcz, a researcher on Russian foreign policy at the Estonia-based International Centre for Defence and Security, told The Africa Report.
Journalists in countries that have been flooded with Russian disinformation are finding it difficult to operate, as outreach and training for local media members is a key feature of Russian Houses in Africa.
“The Russians’ presence has changed the way we process information,” a Nigerien journalist who requested anonymity told Forbidden Stories, an international network of investigative reporters. “Journalists have been bought by the Russians via the junta to spread disinformation.
“Just after the dissolution of the country’s press house in January 2024, the Russian House came into being. According to some reports, it has since been working with reporters close to the government.”
Another reporter, from Burkina Faso, said the first targets of Russian disinformation in his country were local journalists.
“We’re living in the darkest hours of journalism in Burkina Faso,” he told Forbidden Stories.
The post Kremlin Opens ‘Russian Houses’ as Soft Power Tool appeared first on Africa Defense Forum.
ADF STAFF
Sudan’s warring sides are turning their attention to an institution they see as a common enemy: the country’s independent media.
Cyberattacks have become the weapon of choice for the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) as they seek to shut down media outlets to control Sudan’s information space.
“This war is largely a media war driven by misinformation,” Montaser Abdelwahid, editor-in-chief of Sudan-based Medameek, told Radio Dabanga. “They are killing the truth by obstructing reports on the horrific attacks taking place.”
Radio Dabanga is an independent news outlet covering Sudan from its base in the Netherlands. It relies on Sudanese sources to publish news online and through shortwave radio and satellite television broadcasts.
Since the SAF and RSF began fighting for control of Sudan in April 2023, the two sides have frequently targeted journalists.
According to the Sudanese Journalists’ Syndicate (SJS), 445 Sudanese journalists have been killed, detained, tortured or had their operations destroyed. As of November, 25 newspapers, at least seven television stations and 12 radio stations have shut down.
Cyberattackers target media groups’ websites and social media channels, hoping to eliminate them and their messages, according to experts. Sudan-based online news site Sudanile was shut down for a week in October when cyberattackers overwhelmed the site with false traffic and caused it to crash, a malicious barrage known as a denial-of-service attack. Sudanile has been the focus of at least four such attacks. It successfully fended off another one in November.
“Sudanile newspaper has been exposed to a fierce campaign and repeated hacking attempts, especially after the outbreak of the war,” Editor-in-Chief Tarek al-Jazouli told Radio Dabanga.
The attacks targeted the newspaper’s digital archives in an attempt to erase 25 years of history, al-Jazouli said. All the material eventually was recovered except for the most recent three months.
The Syndicate estimates that 90% of media infrastructure has been destroyed or looted.
“As a result, coverage adhering to professional ethics has declined in favor of war media and misleading news,” the Syndicate’s Iman Fadl Al-Sayed told the Sudan Tribune. “Both sides of the conflict monopolize information, broadcasting fabricated information fueled by the war machine, while harmful rhetoric erodes society’s fabric.”
In place of Sudan’s professional media, the warring sides push out their own version of events on social media, military-backed news sites and other sources.
“There is no information from independent sources about the military or humanitarian situation, except from the two warring parties,” Rashid Saeed, Radio Dabanga’s team leader for verification and news gathering, told Free Press Live 2024 in the Netherlands. “Only a few independent Sudanese media outlets continue to work from outside Sudan.”
Freedom House rates Sudan 28 on a score of 100 for its internet freedom, noting that the SAF and RSF manipulate information and intimidate independent journalists and anyone else who tries to report what’s happening in the country.
In spite of repeated cyberattacks and other attempts to shut down war reporting, journalists have a responsibility to report on the war and the humanitarian crisis it has spawned, Saeed said.
“The citizen is the center of our coverage, giving human faces to our stories, personalizing our coverage,” Saeed told Free Press Live 2024. “We can be independent, but we cannot be neutral. Our priority must be to bring a stop to the war in Sudan.”
The post Cyberattacks Target Sudan Media’s Independent War Reporting appeared first on Africa Defense Forum.
ADF STAFF
Nigeria’s so-called Yahoo Boys begin learning the tricks of online fraud early. They’re often as young as 12 when they are recruited into the country’s cybercrime training network known as “hustle kingdom.”
By the time they graduate from high school, many Yahoo Boys are skilled at deceiving online victims through a variety of schemes, from scams that extort victims through online dating sites to phishing emails designed to trick recipients into opening their computer networks to attacks.
“Tackling this issue requires urgent attention at both local and global levels,” Suleman Lazarus, a Nigerian cybercrime expert, wrote in The Conversation.
Lazarus has studied the methods Nigeria’s hustle kingdom graduates use to scam online victims out of billions of dollars every year. While some of those victims are in other African nations, most of them are in North America and Europe where “Nigerian princes” have been a fixture of scams for decades.
As Lazarus and other cybercrime experts note, the fraud being perpetrated by Yahoo Boys is not new — fraudsters played on their victims naivete long before the internet came along. Now, however, the pervasiveness of the online world, social media and email has created an environment where, for many people, fraud is more lucrative than legitimate work.
One hustle kingdom graduate, identified only as “Wizzy,” recently told Voice of America why he chose online fraud over legal work.
“I’m a graphic designer. I do office work,” Wizzy said. “Some people who give you work do not pay.”
Those who do pay, he said, may pay as little as $2 for a job. Online scams can generate thousands of dollars by comparison.
In November, Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission arrested 10 men in Makuri, Benue State on charges of being part of an online fraud operation. Some of those men portrayed themselves as women on social media as part of a romance scheme.
In 2022, Nigerian authorities raided a hustle kingdom academy operating in Abuja where they found 16 boys being trained in online fraud. They arrested the operator, Afolabi Samad, and confiscated computers, mobile telephones, and other technology, along with a Lexus SUV and a Toyota Highlander SUV. The high-end vehicles are an example of how hustle kingdom operators often recruit new members by displaying the kind of wealth they can earn through finding victims on online dating sites and elsewhere, according to Lazarus.
“The glamorization of wealth plays a significant role in normalizing and legitimizing online romance fraud in West Africa,” Lazarus wrote in a study of online romance fraud published by the Journal of Economic Criminology.
“Fraudsters use displays of wealth, such as luxury cars and houses, to entice and recruit individuals in their local communities who view their wealth with envy and admiration,” Lazarus added. “Rather than being condemned, fraudsters are often seen as resourceful and intelligent, further perpetuating the social legitimacy of their criminal activities.”
Nigeria’s hustle kingdom ultimately feeds online fraudsters into a sprawling network ruled by Black Axe, a violent, organized criminal group. Interpol has sought to dismantle a vast network of cybercrime and financial fraud operated by Black Axe and its affiliates. In mid-2024, police agencies in 21 countries arrested more than 300 people associated with Black Axe. Interpol described Operation Jackal III as a major blow against the criminal network.
Tomonobu Kaya, a senior official at Interpol’s Financial Crime and Anti-Corruption Center, told the BBC that online fraudsters have been quick to adopt financial technologies such as money transfer and cryptocurrency as part of their operations.
While international police agencies have successfully combatted Black Axe, Nigerian authorities have had less success, according to Matthew La Lime, a researcher at the Africa Center for Strategic Studies.
“Many Black Axe members have grown into shrewd cybercriminals who specialize in defrauding businesses out of thousands if not millions of dollars,” La Lime wrote recently. “The proceeds gained from cybercrime have, in turn, spawned a complex web of money laundering networks spanning the globe.”
The post Nigeria’s ‘Hustle Kingdom’ Trains Future Generations of Cybercriminals appeared first on Africa Defense Forum.
ADF STAFF
Thousands of members of the Dar Hamar tribe gathered for a rally in support of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) in Sudan’s West Kordofan region in mid-November.
In one of only a handful of places in West Kordofan still controlled by the Sudanese military, they chanted, “One Army, One People” and “All Strength, Onward to Fula,” according to the Sudan War Monitor.
“The depths of the earth are preferable to the surface if the Rapid Support Forces [RSF] invade our land,” emir Abdulqadir Moniem Mansour, leader of the Arab Hamar tribes, said to the crowd.
There was not a large military presence in An-Nahud before the war, but a mix of service branches and irregular fighters have come together to ward off the RSF, including SAF-aligned tribal fighters, who are referred to as “reserve forces.” While the RSF has attacked villages on several sides of An-Nahud, it had not attacked the city itself as of early December.
Mansour characterized the Dar Hamar, who are primarily herdsmen, as the “safety valve” of Sudan and emphasized that while some tribes were swayed by gifts and donations from RSF leaders, Dar Hamar is committed to national unity and Sudan’s territorial integrity.
The rally was like those staged by the RSF to mobilize fighters from the Misseriya tribe in southern parts of West Kordofan. The second-largest ethnic group in Sudan, the nomadic pastoralist Misseriya are a major constituent of the RSF.
Activist Al-Taqi Musleh rebuked Dar Hamar’s tribal mobilization and accused members of the dissolved National Congress Party of manipulating the tribe to incite conflict between Dar Hamar and the Misseriya, the Sudan War Journal reported. Al-Taqi also warned against believing that a conflict between the two tribes would cause the Misseriya to switch sides and join the SAF. He urged the state’s southern tribes not to counter-mobilize and instead focus on preventing tribal conflict.
Tribalization and ethnicization of the current conflict have been cultivated in particular by the RSF in its recruitment of Hawazma, Kenana and Misseriya in South Kordofan, according to Small Arms Survey. In late 2023 and early 2024, tensions between Dar Hamar and Misseriya tribal leaders intensified after the RSF unveiled plans to consolidate control over the Kordofan region. This prompted a backlash from prominent Misseriya figures who oppose bringing the war to their territories.
“There is a widespread consensus within the tribe against the RSF’s control of Diyar Misseriya areas in West Kordofan state,” an anonymous Misseriya leader told the Sudan Tribune. “The Native Administration has been actively mediating between the two parties to maintain peace and prevent armed clashes.”
The leader acknowledged that despite these efforts, the RSF remains determined to expand its influence. The leader attributed the Misseriya’s resistance to the RSF’s history of violations against civilians and widespread human rights abuses in areas it controls. In mid-November, the RSF asked tribal leaders to rally fighters with an aim to deploy them to hotspots, including Khartoum and El Fasher in North Darfur. This stirred fears that it may deepen tribal hostilities and worsen an ethnic dimension to the conflict.
For the Misseriya, fighting alongside the RSF is framed as a “sacred duty” to preserve their standing and prevent potential reprisals if the SAF wins the war. “We will fight alongside the RSF until the last soldier,” an anonymous Misseriya leader told Dabanga Sudan.
There is a history of violence between Dar Hamar and the Misseriya in West Kordofan and other areas. A border dispute between them erupted in violence in August 2022, when the Misseriya erected a sign in Abu Zabady, saying the town belonged to them. When Dar Hamar tried to remove the sign, the Misseriya shot at them, Dabanga Sudan reported.At least six people died and an unknown number wounded. The fighting continued into the next day, when four more people were killed.
Activist El Manna Mohamed told Radio Dabanga that the situation remained tense for days, although a curfew and deployment of government forces helped calm matters as native administration leaders worked to contain the situation.
“Yet, there are large groups of tribesmen from both sides lingering in the town, in particular in the Sangaa neighbourhood in the north of Abu Zabad,” Mohamed said. “It is still quite a chaos.”
The tribes again fought over two days in West Kordofan in November 2022, when six people were killed, dozens injured, several houses torched and the village of Um Shalakla destroyed.
The post Misseriya, Dar Hamar Tensions Add Ethnic Dimension to Sudan War appeared first on Africa Defense Forum.
ADF STAFF
A terror organization known as Lukarawas is sowing fear in northwest Nigeria’s Kebbi and Sokoto states, an area in which Boko Haram, the Islamic State West African Province and bandit gangs continuously wreak havoc.
On November 9, Lukarawas, which is linked to the Islamic State group (IS), is accused of killing 15 people in Mera, a Kebbi State town, and stealing a large number of cattle.
“As of now we are yet to ascertain the identity of the attackers,” Superintendent of Police Nafiu Abubakar, Kebbi State Police spokesperson, told Sahara Reporters. “It’s too early to confirm whether the attackers were from the Lakurawa group or not.”
In response, Nigerian security forces launched air and ground assaults on camps belonging to the group, resulting in the seizure of stolen cattle and the forced retreat of the group toward Borgu, a “strategic area near the Nigeria-Benin border,” according to a report by Zagazola Makama, an independent counterterrorism and crime prevention network based in the Lake Chad region.
Maj. Gen. Edward Buba, Nigeria’s director of defense media operations, said the coup in Niger led to a breakdown of security cooperation between Nigerian and Nigerien forces, allowing the terror group to exploit border weaknesses. Lukarawas also has roots in Mali.
“The terrorists took advantage of the gaps in cooperation between both countries and exploited difficult terrains to make incursions in remote areas in some Northwestern states to spread their ideology,” Buba said in a report by Nigerian online newspaper Nairametrics.
The Nigerian Army has labeled Lukarawas as a new group, but Murtala Ahmed Rufa’i, an associate professor of peace and conflict studies at Usmanu Danfodiyo University Sokoto, wrote that the group has been operating in several communities along the Nigeria-Niger border since 1999. Rufa’i believes the military labels the group as new to deflect blame for recent attacks.
Initially herders, Lukarawas now promotes its own version of Islam as it seeks to form a caliphate. It is known to move from community to community, preaching against Western civilization and participatory governance. This is similar to the playbook used by Boko Haram, which also is linked to the IS.
Members from Mali also have settled in northwest Nigeria communities, where they have married locals and recruited young people into jihadism. Many of them speak Fulfulde, which is commonly spoken by the Fulani ethnic group.
According to Rufa’i, the group initially was recruited by local governments to protect communities from armed bandits from Zamfara State. Lakurawaere paid for their services and succeeded in disrupting the bandit threat between 2016 and 2017 but soon began their own campaign of violence.
These actions threatened the leaders who invited them to form an armed group, leading to a dispute that culminated in the killing of a local district head.
Buba seemingly believes that Lukarawas will not be able to withstand Nigeria’s military strength.
“The options open to them are to surrender or be killed on the battlefield,” Buba said in a report by Nigerian newspaper Leadership. “Accordingly, some terrorist leaders, commanders and combatants have indicated (they are ready to) surrender. We are opening a surrendering corridor for that purpose.”
Writing for The Conversation, researchers John Sunday Ojo, of the Institute of Security and Global Affairs at Leiden University in The Netherlands, and Ezenwa E. Olumba, of the Royal Holloway University of London’s Conflict, Violence, & Terrorism Research Center, argue that such operations have not stopped Boko Haram or its affiliates in the past.
They said a lack of preventive intelligence operations to stop terror groups from infiltrating communities is a major challenge.
“The reliance of communities on groups like the Lakurawa for protection made it possible for a band of armed herders in Mali to become a powerful terror group in Nigeria,” Ojo and Olumba wrote. “This situation shows how security agencies in Nigeria have failed these communities.”
The post Terror Group Lukarawas Adds to Northwest Nigeria’s Security Concerns appeared first on Africa Defense Forum.
ADF STAFF
Former Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok says it is up to the people of his country, aided by the international community, to end the brutal war that has shattered Sudan since April 2023.
“The primary responsibility for stopping this war rests with the Sudanese people,” Hamdok recently told DW during an hourlong interview. “If we are able to unite in a broad front that brings everybody together against the war, that will form the first step in stopping this war. But, also, we don’t live in isolation. We need the support that will be brought by the regional and international communities.”
The two generals at the heart of the fighting — Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) chief Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the de facto leader of the country, and Rapid Support Forces (RSF) leader Gen. Mohamed Hamdan “Hemedti” Dagalo — need to be held accountable for the destruction they have caused, Hamdok added.
“I believe all those who committed these atrocities should be brought to book,” he said. “They need to know that there are consequences for what you do.”
As prime minister, Hamdok led the civilian component of Sudan’s 11-member Sovereignty Council that was established to govern Sudan temporarily after the popular protests that led to the military overthrow of longtime dictator Omar al-Bashir in July 2019.
The power-sharing arrangement included five members of the military, five civilians and a civilian chairperson. The 39-month schedule called for the military, led by al-Burhan, to oversee the council for the first 21 months. Hamdok and the civilian cohort then would lead the council for the next 18 months toward the goal of becoming a parliamentary democracy.
Before civilians could take power, however, al-Burhan and Hemedti staged another coup in October 2021, briefly arresting Hamdok and other civilians who refused to back their actions. Hamdok was reinstated at prime minister a month later but resigned in January 2022.
The 2021 coup, Hamdok noted in the interview, was the latest in a long history of Sudan moving between military coups and civilian governments.
“This is the failure of the military, which has messed up the country for 55 years,” Hamdok said. “This is just a continuation of that.”
After the power struggle between al-Burhan and Hemedti turned into a war, Hamdok formed Taqaddum (“Progress” in Arabic), a civilian-based organization calling for a peaceful end to the fighting and a renewed transition to democratic rule.
As the leader of Taqaddum, Hamdok met with Hemedti, leading Sudanese Attorney General Fath al-Tayfour to accuse him and other Taqaddum members of being complicit in war crimes. Al-Tayfour has called for Interpol to arrest Hamdok.
Hamdok denies that he has chosen sides or been complicit in war crimes.
“This is a misconception,” he told DW. “We are not a broker or mediator. We are totally aligned with the aspirations of our people.”
Taqaddum has declared itself neutral regarding the widening war between al-Burhan and Hemedti that is drawing in smaller militias across the country. It has refused to recognize al-Burhan’s government operating in Port Sudan as legitimate.
The descent into violence has led some observers to suggest that Sudan could be heading toward a societal breakdown along ethnic lines like the one that led to genocide in Rwanda.
“We are working tirelessly to avoid that fate,” Hamdok told DW.
Since fighting broke out between the SAF and RSF, more than 12 million people have been displaced, and more than 2 million have sought refuge in other countries. About 25 million people — more than half of Sudan’s population — need humanitarian aid. More than 750,000 people are on the verge of starvation, according to aid groups.
The United Nations and other observers say the conflict is being fueled by outside forces, such as the United Arab Emirates, which is providing aid to the RSF. Hamdok has called for outside players to help all sides find a peaceful resolution.
Despite the fighting and destruction, Hamdok remains optimistic about Sudan’s future. Transforming Sudan into a democracy will not happen overnight, but it will happen, he said.
The Sudanese people toppled military dictatorships in 1964, 1985 and 2019, Hamdok noted.
“The Sudanese people have accumulated very strong experience with resistance,” he told DW.
The post Ex-Sudanese PM Hamdok Calls for ‘Broad Front’ to End War appeared first on Africa Defense Forum.
ADF STAFF
Before it gained independence in 1957, Ghana was a British colony known as the Gold Coast. An old saying grew popular: “There is no land in Ghana which doesn’t have gold, even in the topsoil. Ghana is gold.”
Today, Ghana is the largest producer of gold on the continent and the sixth largest in the world, but it is struggling to address widespread illegal gold mining, called “galamsey” by locals, who say it pollutes the country and threatens the economy.
Ghanaian miners used to extract gold from shallow depths using shovels, picks, pans and their hands. Today, galamseyers often use Chinese-supplied excavators and bulldozers to churn up riverbeds and farms.
“Chinese entrepreneurs have driven much of the recent surge by partnering with local leaders and, in some cases, providing sophisticated digging machinery,” journalist Alexis Akwagyiram reported for Semafor media.
Driven by a historic rise in international gold prices, galamsey’s popularity has soared while the resource-rich country has struggled to curb mounting inflation and unemployment. Many turn to illegal gold-mining syndicates that offer up to 2,000 cedis ($125) a week.
According to Ghana’s mining sector regulator, small-scale operations produced 1.2 million ounces of gold in the first seven months of 2024, more than the 2023 total. But most of the spoils of galamsey are smuggled out of the country and aren’t counted as export revenues.
Hundreds protested in Accra in September and October 2024 to warn of galamsey’s devastating environmental impacts.
WaterAid, an international charity with at least 10 projects in Ghana and an office in Accra, urged the government to take “immediate action to end the ecocide,” while the national water utility warned that Ghana is at risk of needing to import water by 2030 if illegal mining is not restricted.
Dr. George Manful, a former senior official in Ghana’s Environmental Protection Agency, warned that Chinese-led mining operations typically use chemicals such as mercury, cyanide and nitric acid to separate gold particles from sediment before dumping their waste in rivers. These chemicals harm the entire food chain, he said, as they accumulate in fish and in crops irrigated with polluted water.
“Mercury can remain in water for up to 1,000 years,” he told Ghanaian radio station Joy FM. “The water in these rivers is so turbid that it is undrinkable. We are slowly poisoning ourselves.”
Health professionals in September issued a statement urging the government to ban galamsey.
“The rise in cases of respiratory illnesses, skin infections and waterborne diseases such as cholera and diarrhea in these communities is a direct consequence of the unchecked mining activities,” they wrote. “We are witnessing an ecological disaster with direct implications for human health, and this must be addressed with urgency.”
Economist and researcher Enoch Randy Aikins also is calling for a ban on all mining, specifically around water bodies and forest reserves.
“Government commitment is vital,” he wrote in a September article for the South Africa-based Institute for Security Studies. “An independent, non-partisan commission is needed to probe all mining companies’ leases, permits and activities to ensure their operations are legal. Transgressors must be swiftly prosecuted to demonstrate the government’s intent.”
Illegal mining has affected seven of Ghana’s 16 regions and 34 of the country’s 288 forest reserves, according to John Allotey, head of the Ghana Forestry Commission.
“We want to intensify surveillance, use the military to conduct operations in sensitive areas and find additional funding,” he said at an August 13, 2024, news conference in Accra.
With Operation Halt, Operation Vanguard and Operation Flush Out, the government has deployed the Ghana Armed Forces to curb galamsey, but miners always return quickly, sometimes within hours, to dismantled sites.
The government also has cracked down on Chinese immigrants. Attorney General and Minister for Justice Godfred Yeboah Dame said in September 2024 that 76 people, including 18 foreign nationals, have been convicted of illegal mining since August 2021, and more than 850 others are being prosecuted.
Chinese Ambassador Tong Defa on September 12, 2024, called on Chinese immigrants to stay away from illegal mining and for the Ghanaian government to prosecute those who don’t.
But the drivers and root causes of galamsey remain.
“Between 2008 and 2016, more than 50,000 Chinese citizens migrated to Ghana to mine gold on small-scale concessions,” researcher Heidi Hausermann wrote in a 2020 report in the journal Human Geography. “This is particularly surprising given that small-scale mining is an activity reserved for Ghanaian citizens.”
Kwame Amoah, a miner in Wasa in the Western region, said he is frustrated with Ghana’s laws on small-scale mining, which was legalized in 1989 but explicitly forbade foreign involvement.
“I’m pleading with the government,” he said in October 2024, according to GhanaWeb. “It shouldn’t be that someone from China is benefiting more easily while a Ghanaian is arrested for the same thing.”
The post Ghana Grapples With Scourge of Chinese-led Illegal Gold Mining appeared first on Africa Defense Forum.
ADF STAFF
As part of the fight against illegal fishing, drug and human trafficking, piracy, oil theft, and other sea crimes in the Gulf of Guinea, navies and coast guards from more than two dozen countries participated in the Grand African Navy Exercise for Maritime Operations (NEMO) 2024.
The exercise, an annual maritime security event led by the French Navy, focused on strengthening coordination across five operational zones in the Gulf of Guinea. It was launched at the Multinational Maritime Coordination Centre in Accra, Ghana.
At the opening ceremony, Ghana Chief of Naval Staff Issah Adam Yakubu said that the exercise will enhance “effective information-sharing, interoperability, trust building and ensuring safety and security in the [Gulf of Guinea] and Zone F maritime space in particular,” referring to the waters between Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
Yakubu added that multinational exercises such as Grand African NEMO have helped reduce sea crimes in the Gulf of Guinea.
Benin, Cameroon, Cabo Verde, Republic of the Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Togo, Liberia, Mauritania, Morocco, Nigeria, São Tomé and Príncipe, Senegal, and Sierra Leone participated in this year’s exercise.
This year’s exercise included almost 70 complex scenarios involving 55 units at sea, 12 aircraft, numerous command centers on land and more than 4,000 people from various administrations. It featured simulated exercises designed to improve responses to piracy, smuggling, and illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing.
In recent years, West Africa has emerged as the world’s epicenter for IUU fishing, which has led to the loss of more than 300,000 artisanal fishing jobs in the region, according to the International Collective in Support of Fishworkers.
The scourge costs West Africa an estimated $10 billion per year, according to a September 2023 report by the Stimson Center think tank, while the Financial Transparency Coalition found that the region attracts 40% of the world’s illegal trawlers.
NEMO also had training related to maritime law, including a mock trial held by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime that was based on evidence collected during a visit, board, search and seizure exercise.
West Africa also has emerged as a piracy hot spot. There were 12 piracy or armed robbery at sea incidents in the Gulf of Guinea in the first nine months of this year, according to the International Maritime Bureau. There were 22 such incidents in the Gulf of Guinea in 2023.
Because of these threats and others, Nigeria’s Chief of Naval Staff Vice Adm. Emmanuel Ogalla said the importance of the exercise could not be overstated.
“Exercise Grand African NEMO is a critical initiative allowing African Navies to develop collaborative strategies against transnational maritime threats,” Ogalla said in a report by Nigerian newspaper This Day. “This exercise reaffirms our dedication to creating a secure maritime domain that supports a thriving blue economy.”
Ogalla added that the exercise offered an opportunity for African nations to lead in solving regional security issues alongside international partners.
“Exercise Grand African NEMO is a landmark opportunity for Navies and Coast Guards of the Gulf of Guinea to address common challenges with an African-led approach,” he said. “Our vision is to foster a safe and secure region that allows economic prosperity and development for all. This exercise highlights our unwavering commitment to ensuring a maritime space where peace and commerce can flourish.”
The post Grand African NEMO Strengthens Collaboration to Combat Sea Crimes appeared first on Africa Defense Forum.
ADF STAFF
Constance was 13 years old when she left her home in North Kivu province in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo to join a militia called the Alliance of Patriots for a Free and Sovereign Congo.
Child soldiers are known as kadogos, which means “little ones” in Swahili. Despite her small stature, she carried rocket-propelled grenades and supported fighters on the battlefront against M23 rebels.
“I went to war,” she told The Guardian from a displacement camp near the provincial capital, Goma. “It was a nightmare.”
Experts say the recruitment of children has surged since the Rwanda-backed M23 rebellion resurfaced in 2022. In the case of Constance, who requested the use of a pseudonym, poverty drove her to this path. But countless other children have been abducted by or coerced into the militias on both sides of the fighting.
“The militias, collectively known as Wazalendo (‘patriots’ in Swahili), are being used because of poor motivation and dysfunction within the ranks of DRC’s army, which has seen dozens of Soldiers and officers prosecuted for deserting the battlefield,” South Africa-based journalist Patricia Huon wrote in The New Humanitarian magazine in August. “Yet the Wazalendo groups, some of which have previously fought each other, are committing serious human rights abuses and bringing large numbers of child soldiers to the frontlines, thwarting long-running efforts to prevent their recruitment.”
Marie Soudnie Rivette, DRC director of the international charity War Child, said it is impossible to estimate how many children are caught up in the fighting, but she believes the actual number is much higher than is reported. “It’s clearly rising,” she told The Guardian for a November 11 article. “Children are cannon fodder today.”
Most of the 14 children The Guardian interviewed in a displacement camp in Goma had recently escaped armed groups. Most said the only way to leave is to desert, and some said they were shot at as they fled.
Onesphore Sematumba, an analyst in the DRC with the Crisis Group, said militias that forcibly enlist minors into their ranks often have hazy ideas about what a child is.
“They determine it by size or the ability to carry heavy weights,” he told The Guardian.
A United Nations panel of experts detailed the extent of child recruitment in a July report, stating that “all armed actors recruited and used children in hostilities on an unprecedented scale.” The experts wrote that the M23 “systematically” abducted children as young as 10 “in rural areas while working in the fields, individually or in large groups, as confirmed by several ex-M23 combatants who were recruited in such circumstances.” M23 also targeted children among other Congolese for recruitment from refugee camps in Rwanda and Uganda. At one M23 training camp, at least 20% of the estimated 1,000 recruits were children.
“Those who did not consent were taken forcefully,” the report stated. “Recruits who attempted to escape faced execution.”
Recruits who were 15 and above were trained for combat, including at some sites in Rwanda, before being deployed to the front lines to fight. They also were subjected to heavy labor, including digging tunnels and trenches.
“The youngest children, usually under 15 years old, did not receive full tactical training but carried out chores and acted as escorts or servants to commanders until they became ‘ripe’ for combat duty,” the report said.
A number of sources told the U.N. experts that nearly all of the Wazalendo militias utilize children, and the sight of armed children has been widely reported around Goma, at or near military positions and camps for internally displaced people.
“One of the biggest concerns around the Wazalendo is their massive use of child soldiers, which has set back efforts to prevent their recruitment by many years,” Huon wrote.
The post Child Soldiers’ Numbers Swelling in Eastern DRC appeared first on Africa Defense Forum.
ADF STAFF
Tedla Hirigo, 17, worked as a street vendor in Adama city in Ethiopia’s Oromia region on November 11 when police detained him.
“When I visited the station in the evening, officers told me that he would be sent to a military training camp unless I paid 30,000 birr for his release,” Tedla’s mother told Ethiopian newspaper The Addis Standard. She said Tedla was her family’s primary source of income. “He was raised without a father, and we don’t have the financial means to pay such a large sum.”
Multiple sources report that the federal government is forcibly conscripting people to bolster its military strength for the intensifying Amhara region conflict.
“Youths are being rounded up and sent to military camps in many places in Addis Ababa,” Meseret Media reported on October 28. “Our sources told us that after they take these children who do heavy work to the police station, they keep them in prison for some time and then take them to the military camp.”
Another source told The Addis Standard on condition of anonymity that authorities in Fital town and surrounding villages announced an effort to have young people voluntarily enlist for military training. The resident said that no one volunteered, and “government forces, in collaboration with local administrators, began rounding up individuals.”
The Standard reported similar stories in Sheger city, which surrounds the federal capital, and of the detention of more than 20 Oromians who were threatened with military conscription at the Setema district police station in the western Jimma zone, several hundred kilometers southwest of Addis Ababa.
In a November 15 statement, the Oromia regional government refuted allegations that security forces are abducting people for ransom, describing them as “unfounded propaganda” and “defamation.”
The Amhara region conflict has escalated significantly since the Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF) launched an offensive that it called a “final operation” against an Amhara militia known as Fano. An additional 40,000 troops reportedly were deployed.
Calls for peace have “fallen on deaf ears,” ENDF spokesperson Col. Getnet Adane said on October 1, according to Voice of America.
“The only language they understand is force,” he said. “From now on we will talk to them in that language. For peace to prevail they need to be met with force. They have to be targeted, hit.”
Members of Ethiopia’s security forces have been implicated in kidnapping and extortion cases, according to a late September report by the state-appointed Ethiopian Human Rights Commission.
“It is being done in broad daylight, especially in Sheger city,” an Oromia government source told Meseret Media.
On the same day that the ENDF announced its military offensive, human rights group Amnesty International accused the army of conducting “mass arbitrary detentions” in the Amhara region.
Tigere Chagutah, the organization’s regional director for East and Southern Africa, alleged that hundreds have been held, including members of the academic community, in major towns across the Amhara region since September 28.
“The Ethiopian army and police’s ongoing campaign of arbitrary mass detentions in Amhara region is yet more evidence of the government’s total disregard for the rule of law,” he said in a statement.
“Eyewitnesses have stated that authorities came with a ‘list’ and failed to obtain arrest and search warrants before detaining hundreds of civilians across the region. Those detained have largely not been brought before a court of law within 48 hours, as required by the country’s national laws and constitution.”
Amnesty International urged Ethiopian authorities to halt the use of arbitrary arrests and detentions as tools of repression.
“Immediately end these arbitrary arrests, press charges against those detained for internationally recognized crimes and follow due process, or release them without further delay,” the group said.
The post Reports Detail Forced Youth Conscription in Ethiopia appeared first on Africa Defense Forum.
Welcome to DopeReporters, the leading resource for accurate, timely, and influential news. Covering important events in Nigeria and around the world is part of our mission to create stories that have an impact. Giving you a comprehensive perspective on politics, sports, entertainment, current events, and more is our goal.
©2022 DopeReporters. All Right Reserved. Designed and Developed by multiplatforms
