The African Union lacks a coherent strategy that can reduce tensions between countries and improve security coordination. Security in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Great Lakes is worsening despite numerous stabilisation efforts. A step-up in attacks since February by the M23 and other armed groups in Ituri, North Kivu and South Kivu provinces has increased fatalities and forced displacement, making humanitarian access difficult. The escalation has strained already tense relations between Rwanda and the DRC. Multiple parallel and often competing regional initiatives hav ..read more

“Effective defence for a democratic South Africa.” This is the vision defined for the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) in the Strategic Plan 2020-2025, published by the Department of Defence in 2020. A noble and just vision, in-line with Section 200 of the Constitution, which mandates a defence force that “Provides for a structured, disciplined military force and the primary objective, which is to defend and protect the Republic, its territorial integrity and its people.” The Strategic plan was intended to provide a framework for the SANDF to operate under, as an extension of the D ..read more

Earlier this month (May) Zimbabwe committed to a national action plan (NAP) as regards the involvement of women in a range of peace-related work becoming the eighth Southern African Development Community (SADC) member to do so. President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s country joins Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia and South Africa which have NAPs in place in line with United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolution 1325, adopted 20 years ago, to mainstream gender into peace and security mechanisms and processes to address specific challenges wome ..read more

The twelfth edition of the Africa Aerospace and Defence (AAD) exhibition in September this year will host several hubs to showcase the latest innovations in energy, general aviation, and drone/counter-drone technologies. Giving an update on the 18-22 September exhibition, the organisers said that more than half of the available exhibition space at Air Force Base Waterkloof has already been booked out and confirmed. “As organisers, we want to position the country as the global pinnacle of innovation, excellence, and a preferred investment destination,” said Nakedi Phasha, Exhibition Director at ..read more

Separate defence oriented events on the eastern and western sides of Africa this month have a common denominator – partnerships. ASEC (Africa Security Symposium) is scheduled for the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa on 22 and 23 May with the third African Air Forces Forum (AAFF) in the Nigerian capital Abuja on the same dates. A bonus for delegates going to the AAFF is an air show on the Saturday post the forum at the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) Base (AFB Kaduna) just on 200km from Abuja to mark the force’s 60th anniversary. ASEC 2024 will be number 11 with the organisers noting it as “a truly pan-A ..read more

Highly skilled and specialised members of the Special Task Force and National Intervention Unit divisions are exiting the SA Police Service at an alarming rate, leaving the country’s borders vulnerable and posing a significant risk to safety and security, the Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (POPCRU) has warned. POPCRU President Thulani Ngwenya said the South African Police Service skills drain was now reaching critical levels as members retire or leave the service for better paying positions in the private sector. “This represents a serious threat to our national security, as our most sk ..read more

KwaZulu-Natal provincial police commissioner Lieutenant General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi met with 3000 commissioned officers on Tuesday to gauge performances and “account on all the shortfalls that need drastic and urgent improvements.” Mkhwanazi said the meeting in Durban was historic in the history of policing in the province as it was the first time that all 3000 commissioned officers, ranked captain and upwards, were in one room. “The aim of this meeting was to gauge our performances and account on all the shortfalls that need drastic and urgent improvements. That is why I called all commanders ..read more

The death of Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau in 2021 triggered unprecedented exits from one of the group’s two factions, Jama’atu Ahlis-Sunna Lidda’Awati Wal-Jihad (JAS). He died when the other faction, Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), invaded his Sambisa Forest fortress in Borno State, north east Nigeria. Rather than being taken alive, Shekau detonated a suicide vest, bringing his brutal 11-year leadership to an end. Thousands of his fighters, who refused to join ISWAP because it caused his demise, surrendered to Lake Chad Basin authorities alongside civilians who JAS had kept ag ..read more

Burkina Faso continues to build up its military amid ongoing terror attacks, and to this end has taken delivery of Bayraktar Akinci unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) from Turkey and nearly 100 military vehicles, including Temsah and Fahd armoured personnel carriers (APCs) from Egypt. Burkina Faso’s Minister of Defence, Brigadier General Kassoum Coulibaly, received the vehicles during a handover ceremony on 18 April. He gave the equipment to the military’s Chief of General Staff, Brigadier General Celestin Simpore, and this included at least two Temsah 6×6 armoured vehicles, seven Fahd armoured a ..read more

The four-month period from December to March saw police assisted by, among others, soldiers from the SA Army Light Modern Brigade (LMB), arrest 4 774 suspects for involvement in illegal mining across seven of South Africa’s nine provinces. Most arrests were made in Limpopo (1 230), followed by Free State (1 092), Gauteng (679), North West (649), Northern Cape (619), Mpumalanga (432) and KwaZulu-Natal a distant seventh on 74. An SA Police Service (SAPS) update on Operation Vala Umgodi (loosely translated as “plug the hole”) on 7 May has it 7 130 uncut diamonds valued at R32 million were confisc ..read more