Weaponised drones the latest tech threat to reach Africa

By Karen Allen

Drones have for some time been used by regular armed forces on Africa’s battlefields, such as in Ethiopia and Mali. But now they’re increasingly being deployed by terrorists – sparking a global sense of urgency.

At the end of October, the United Nations (UN) Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee will host a special meeting in India on countering the use of new technologies for terrorism. Drones or unmanned aerial systems (UAS) have been identified as one of the key terrorist threats by the meeting’s organisers. Other risks are disinformation, the misuse of social media, and new payment technologies used by violent extremists.

Drones are by and large a force for good, for example in delivering medicines to hard-to-reach parts of Africa. But their widespread availability, increased range and growing sophistication in terms of payload (what they can carry) have seen an expansion in their applications.

The hobbyist drone market has grown rapidly, with global sales increasing from US$14 billion in 2018 to a projected US$43 billion in 2024, according to Drone Industry Insights. South Africa represents the biggest market in Africa, particularly for aerial technology used in the mining and agricultural sectors. This democratisation of relatively affordable technology means that UAS can be used for nefarious ends both in wartime and peace.

The Ukraine-Russian war has underscored the significance of the new drone battlespace with an arms race in production and acquisition underway. But drones can also be bought, adapted and used to disrupt critical infrastructure such as airports, energy plants and communications networks. on critical infrastructure such as on Transnet in South Africa in 2021, they should also consider the unintended consequences of drone proliferation.

The continent has yet to witness a major installation being targeted by a UAS. But there is growing evidence of drones being weaponised by violent extremists and transnational criminal networks, either as a surveillance tool or as part of their intelligence and reconnaissance operations. As ISS Today has previously reported, armed groups such as al-Shabaab in Somalia and insurgents in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Mozambique are applying the technology in combat.

UN Security Council Resolution 2617 recognises the increasing misuse of UAS globally, including ‘the misuse of unmanned aerial systems by terrorists to conduct attacks against, and incursions into, restricted commercial and government infrastructure and public places.’ Council members have been urged to ‘balance fostering innovation’ while ‘preventing the misuse of UAS.’ But how can this be achieved in practice?

For a start, research is being done to understand how terrorists use drones. A joint UN Office of CounterTerrorism, and Conflict Armament Research project is underway to assess global trends. The next steps will be to classify types of UAS (hobbyist, commercial, military, etc.) and establish a registration system so they can be tracked.

The UN Office of Counter-Terrorism has developed a good practice guide on protecting vulnerable targets from drone attacks, knowing that commercial or hobbyist drones are being shaped into weapons. 3D printing technology also opens up the prospect of spare parts being rapidly manufactured by extremists.

While countries such as South Africa may not consider themselves at risk of an imminent terrorist attack, industry insiders worry about economic terrorism – the destabilisation of essential utilities or other state services.

Kim James, an executive member of the Commercial Unmanned Aircraft Association of Southern Africa, confirms that crime syndicates use ‘narco drones’ in South Africa for basic reconnaissance and to distribute drugs. A similar tactic is seen in Colombia to evade border security measures. The prospect of drones being used to target, for example, cash-in-transit vehicles is a possibility.

While tighter regulations won’t necessarily prevent the nefarious uses of drone technology, they can provide early warning signs. They could, for example, locate suspect drones or flag the delivery of bulk purchases of hobbyist drones close to potential targets. This was seen in Iraq and Syria in 2016 when large consignments of hobbyist drones were delivered to Turkey and then driven across the border.

As Audrey Kurth Cronin observed in her book Power to the People: How Open Technological Innovation is Arming Tomorrow’s Terrorists, ‘the most common type of drone used by Islamic State was the DJI phantom, purchasable on Amazon.com for as little as 450 USD.’ Export controls for such dual use technologies may also be an avenue for policymakers to consider.

Regulations require enforcement. Given the broad applications of drones, it will need an approach in which government departments coordinate their responses. In South Africa, the Commercial Unmanned Aircraft Association of Southern Africa is drawing up proposals with the Department for Economic Development for a registration and accreditation process that protects the public but doesn’t harm business.

Technical fixes and alerts including how to identify potentially dangerous drones, are also being developed by the private sector with a focus on big installations such as mines, pipelines, prisons, airports etc. This raises questions of who is legally permitted to intercept a drone, and of state sovereignty and international law.

This month’s UN Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee meeting will have to tread carefully so as not to hamper the legitimate use of drones which is transforming business, agriculture, humanitarian relief and medicine in Africa. At the same time, the continent presents a vulnerable environment where weaponised drones may be tested and used by militaries and insurgents alike.

Turkey deepens its defense diplomacy in Africa

By Kate Hairsine and Burak Ünveren

Sales of drones and other arms to African nations are booming after Turkey signed military cooperation deals with dozens of governments on the continent. DW examines why so many countries are turning to Turkey for arms.

Turkey is stepping up its security footprint in Africa after over a decade of strategically expanding its economic and cultural influence on the continent. The government has recently inked a number of security agreements, particularly in West Africa, and arms exports to Africa have exploded.

Turkey's defense and aerospace exports to the continent grew more than fivefold, to $460.6 million, in 2021 — up from $82.9 million in 2020.

Turkey's share of Africa's arms market is still tiny at 0.5%. But the rapid growth of defense sales is "striking," according to a 2022 study on Turkey's security diplomacy in Africa by the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP).

Against a backdrop of growing Islamist insurgencies in both East and West Africa, as well as domestic conflicts, governments are upping their defense spending. Turkey is proving a reliable alternative to traditional arms exporters, such as Russia, China, France and the United States.

For African governments, "Turkey provides a means of actually purchasing military hardware," Abel Abate Demissie, an associate fellow at the British think tank Chatham House, told DW.

Turkish arms are relatively cheap, have shorter delivery times and come free of "bureaucratic hurdles" such as political or human rights conditions, Abel said from Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa.

The media aide to Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari praised

Turkish defense technology in a statement in late 2021, saying it would accelerate efforts to rid the country "of pockets of terrorists and the menace of kidnappers and bandits."

African nations are most interested in buying Turkish-manufactured armored vehicles, naval equipment, infantry weapons and drones, according to the SWP study.

Why are Turkish-manufactured drones so popular?

"In Africa, wherever we went, they asked us for unarmed and armed drones," Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said after returning from a 2021 trip to the continent.

African nations that have already taken delivery of Turkishmanufactured drones include Somalia, Togo, Niger, Nigeria and Ethiopia — although the drone sales to Ethiopia have attracted Western criticism after the government used them to attack civilians in the Tigray conflict.

Several others have reportedly placed orders, although Turkey's popular Bayraktar drone currently has a three-year waiting list.

Turkey's drones are cheap compared to US or Israeli versions and easy to operate. But a big selling point is that they are battle-proven, said Yunus Turhan, an analyst of Turkey Africa relations at Haci Bayram Veli University in Turkey.

Turkish unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have been used "very effectively" in Syria, Libya and in Azerbaijan's breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh, he said. Most recently, the Bayraktar TB2 armed drones have gained fame in Ukraine for destroying large numbers of Russian tanks.

For Turkey, Africa is potentially huge market for Ankara's emerging defense and aerospace industry, which boasted some 1,500 companies in 2020 compared to just 56 in 2002.

At least 15 African nations also operate armored vehicles, made by several competing Turkish firms.

Last month a Turkish shipyard laid the keel for two new offshore patrol vessels for Nigeria's navy while another Turkish aerospace company will send six attack helicopters.

New security training deals

African nations aren't just interested in Turkey's arms, though. There's also a "huge demand" for security assistance, said Ovigwe Eguegu, a Nigerian-based political analyst for Development Reimagined, an international consultancy

Turkey has signed military-related pacts with the majority of African countries, mainly in West and East Africa (as shown in the map below). While the deals vary in scope, they can include technical visits to research centers, personnel exchanges between institutions and companies, and training.

Its longest-standing involvement is in Somalia, where Turkey operates its biggest foreign base, Camp TURKSOM, and where the Turkish government has boasted of training a third of Somalia's 15,000-strong army in the fight against al-Shabab.

Nigerian military personnel have also undergone combat drone instruction in Turkey, while Ankara has been training Kenyan police officers since 2020.

Turkey's experience fighting counterinsurgency is welcome, and, as a Muslim-majority nation without colonial baggage, it enjoys a high level of trust on the continent, Eguegu said. Plus, because of its NATO membership, deepening ties with Turkey comes at "a low diplomatic cost" for African countries.

Erdogan, who has visited more African countries than any non-African leader, has even redefined Turkey as an "Afro-Eurasian state," Eguegu pointed out. "By connecting its identity with Africa, it's a way to make itself almost a neutral partner of African countries."

Sahel nations eager for support

But it's in the terrorist-hit Sahel countries in West Africa and Central Africa where Turkey is making its latest push to extend its influence.

Turkey gave the G5 Sahel Joint Force (made up of Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger) a $5 million contribution for the fight against terrorism in 2018.

It has since signed military cooperation and defense agreements with Niger, Nigeria, Togo and Senegal.

"We see these types of requests from West African countries, because they have huge security challenges across the Sahel, where lots of countries aren't in control of large swaths of their territories," Eguegu said.

Military cooperation not only solution

The 2021 Turkey-Africa summit attracted 16 African heads of state and more than 100 ministers.

This shows that the continent is increasingly attaching strategic importance to Turkey, said Senegal-based peace and security analyst Aissatou Kante, a researcher at the Institute for Security Studies, an African think tank

Though African nations are obviously interested in diversifying their partnerships, including in the security field, Kante said there was a danger in seeing defense agreements, such as those signed with Turkey, as the only solution to Africa's security crises.

The revival of defense agreements raises concerns about "an increasing militarization of states facing multiple threats," Kante said.