Author

Solly Rakgomo
  • The DIS needs strong institutional oversight

    It must be noted that the spy agency since its establishment in 2008 has seen a drastic decline in public trust due to its entrenched institutional culture of being rogue.Controversy has become a trademark of the institution and the appointment of a...

  • National interests are a foreign policy guiding principle

    It is an evident reality of international relations that “when states’ interests converge, cooperation takes place, and when states’ interests diverge, conflict takes place.” In international relations, what matters most is the national...

  • The horn of Africa’s Middle East problem

    Twelve days later, Tigrayan forces seized three airports and war returned to northern Ethiopia. On September 28, Ethiopia’s army chief publicly accused Eritrea, Sudan and Egypt of backing the rebels, all three of them partners of Saudi Arabia. A...

  • Understanding China-Africa peace, security forum

    Military representatives and defence officials from the African Union and 41 African nations participated. This expansion of bilateral military relations between Beijing and African countries comes at a time when Beijing and Washington are vying for...

  • Geopolitical implications of Houthi control of the Red Sea

    The group’s recent advance along Yemen’s Red Sea coast has brought the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, one of the world’s most important maritime chokepoints, closer to the centre of the conflict. Its growing missile and drone capabilities have also...

  • Security-for-resources model as a counter- terrorism strategy in the Sahel

    They trade vital natural assets like gold, uranium, and lithium in exchange for military protection, weapons, and economic support from external partners, particularly from Russia, bypassing traditional Western partnerships. These Francophone...

  • Inside the Sahel war economy

    Yet by July 2026, over 1,000 tankers had reached the capital anyway, escorted by Russia’s Africa Corps and, increasingly, Turkish drones. Petrol that cost $25 a litre before September now costs $130. Somewhere between “blockade” and “a...

  • Radiological risks in the Red Sea, Strait of Hormuz

    However, the focus on the Red Sea and Bab-el-Mandeb Strait mainly concerns conventional threats, such as anti-ship ballistic missiles, one-way attack drones, and waterborne explosive devices used by Houthi forces. Yet a lesser-discussed risk exists,...

  • Geopolitical complexities of the Red Sea

    By a simple geographical definition, the Red Sea is a sea inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. With a huge surface area, the entire Red Sea, formed by the Arabian Peninsula being split from the Horn of Africa, possesses a...

  • UN refugee Convention turns 75

    At other times, it is not honoured at all. After three-quarters of a century, it is easy to forget the hot ideal that streaks through the document: that it contains, as Christopher Bentram aptly remarks, “a kind of substitute citizenship” for...

  • The deepening threat of Al –Shabaab

    The federal government’s de facto sphere of control is confined to Mogadishu and a few satellite towns: essentially a metropolis with a diplomatic corps and a demoralised, ineffectual army.Absent a dramatic change in direction, likely near-term...

  • Understanding Iran-backed militias

    Washington and Riyadh accuse these groups of carrying out drone attacks against Saudi oil facilities, while the militias say they are resisting U.S. and Israeli influence in the region. Over the past two decades, these factions have evolved from...

  • Role of military chaplains and security strategy in Africa

    The event, held in Accra last week, was easy to overlook if one expected a conventional military conference. It was not about weapons systems, battlefield tactics, or counterterrorism operations in the narrow sense.Yet the gathering mattered because...

  • Intelligence in the face of contemporary terrorism

    Rather than focusing on managing the consequences of an attack (“the boom”), this doctrine shifts the state’s effort toward the preparatory stages of a terrorist plot, before a group or cell acquires the capabilities needed to carry it out. As...

  • Cheap drones threatens global energy security

    Conflicts in Ukraine, Russia and the Middle East have demonstrated that unmanned aerial vehicles costing only hundreds or thousands of dollars can now threaten oil refineries, power plants, export terminals, pipelines and ports worth billions.The...

arrow up