Africa Center for Strategic Studies

The Congo Basin rainforests represent roughly 70% of Africa’s forest cover and plays a crucial role in regional precipitation patterns. It is the source of 17% of the moisture for West Africa and 30-40% of the annual rainfall in the Ethiopian highlands. In short, the survival of the Nile River depends on the Congo Basin rainforests. But the Congo forests are under threat. According to some reports, as much as 90% of Congo Basin timber is illegally sourced and facilitated by high-level crime. This is due to a number of factors: lack of staff capacity, poor coordination with other enforcement agencies (e.g., customs), insufficient information about the main areas of illegality in the supply chain, and corruption. https://lnkd.in/eKjRxqVf

Black Axe money launderers thrive in countries with lax fiscal regulations and oversight, such as Ireland, UAE, and China. But they can do business anywhere and often hide in plain sight, like Ikechukwu Amadi, who operated in Mississauga, Ontario. https://lnkd.in/esXDPpYq

Associated mostly with cybercrime abroad, in Nigeria the Black Axe is known its violence and brutality in Nigeria. Members (referred to as Axemen) routinely engage in drug dealing, smuggling, kidnapping, and extortion. https://lnkd.in/egBbHiGh

Millions of people in central Africa depend on the Congo basin rainforest for their livelihoods. Yet the forest is shrinking, in part part due to endemic corruption. Investigations in the Republic of the Congo have revealed that timber companies routinely bribe ministers and other senior officials to illegally obtain timber concessions, avoid penalties for overharvesting, and export in excess of quotas. In the DRC, similarly, the government revealed that many logging concessions had been allocated through influence peddling in breach of the country’s laws. Among the leading offenders was the logging company Congo King Baisheng Forestry Development owned by China-based Wan Peng International. Opaque corporate structures and secrecy jurisdictions including in Hong Kong and Dubai also facilitate deforestation in the region by allowing companies to obscure their beneficial owners and to avoid taxes and regulation. In most countries, national anticorruption units exist but are rarely enforced. At times, investigators can track corruption activities involving illegal logging on the ground, report on them, and transmit them to the public prosecutor for criminal prosecution. Yet, few cases lead to convictions due to the political influence of officials colluding with the illicit logging activities. Although most Congo Basin countries have now established the legal frameworks to counter corruption, more work is needed to ensure the enforcement of these frameworks. This will require enacting severe penalties for corruption around illegal logging, thereby diminishing the impunity currently enjoyed by senior officials who are complicit. https://lnkd.in/eWDVypPh

Comprising almost 200 million hectares (almost 500 million acres) of dense rainforest and peat swamp soils, the Congo Basin absorbs more carbon dioxide than any other region in the world: Its annual net CO2 absorption is 6 times that of the Amazon rainforest. 1/6 An estimated 300,000 to 500,000 people in the country rely on the Congo forests for their livelihoods, and up to 55 million in the region derive economic benefits from the forests. But local communities often only see a fraction of the financial benefits from this extraction. 2/6 Estimates are that the Congo Basin forests are shrinking by 1% to 5% a year, and that 30% of forest cover has been lost since 2000, largely due to unregulated commercial logging and mining. 3/6 Given the high-value revenue streams, weak forest management, and lax government oversight of these sectors, transnational organized criminal networks and armed militant groups are playing an increasingly central role in resource extraction from the Congo Basin. 4/6 In addition, inequitable redistribution by governments of land access and revenues has created tensions by disadvantaging indigenous peoples and local communities. These tensions are ever increasing as forestry, mining, and agro-industry interests expand. 5/6 Better management and protection of the Congo Basin rainforests will require enhanced forest domain awareness as well as realigning the incentives for local communities, public officials, and international logging interests. https://lnkd.in/eKjRxqVf 6/6

The world's second-largest rainforest is shrinking—posing a threat to the livelihoods of millions. Weak forest management is empowering transnational organized criminal networks and armed militant groups who are playing an increasingly central role in resource extraction from the Congo Basin. Illicit logging, mining, and wildlife trade in the Congo Basin is enabled by the complicity of senior public officials who profit from their positions overseeing the management of these national resources. Better management and protection of the Congo Basin rainforests will require enhanced forest domain awareness as well as realigning the incentives for local communities, public officials, and international logging interests. Read more about all of this in our brand new Africa Security Brief: “The Regional Security Imperative to Protect the Congo Basin” https://lnkd.in/eWDVypPh

A reminder that the military junta in Burkina Faso continues to punish those who dissent or question it with forced conscription—even seated judges. https://lnkd.in/e5YfE3hd

Congratulations to Botswana for a smooth government transition made possible by a commitment by all parties to democracy and rule of law.

Al Shabaab has been effective at generating revenue by co-opting key government and financial entities in Somalia. An essential part of countering Al Shabaab’s revenue flows is to further prioritize the professionalization of government agencies. https://lnkd.in/e_w4YKG5

More Africans are facing starvation than ever. There are lingering impacts from the pandemic, the disruption of global supply chains due to Russia’s blockade of Ukrainian grain, threats to shipping from piracy and the Houthi attacks in the Red Sea/Western Indian Ocean, and climate change. But by far the largest cause of food insecurity in Africa is entirely manmade and avoidable—conflict. https://lnkd.in/eKjgrFss