Africa’s militaries are built on imported power. Foreign countries such as China, Russia, the United States, Turkey and France dominate Africa’s weapons market. Between them they supply everything from small arms to attack helicopters, unmanned systems and communications equipment.
The results are often quite poor. From the Sahel to Somalia, weapons and equipment supplied from abroad breaks down quickly, sits idle for lack of maintenance, or requires expertise that local forces are not trained to sustain.
At the same time, insurgents on motorbikes equipped with AK-47s and improvised explosives gain the upper hand. These issues are quite often due to corruption or mismanagement by African militaries, a problem that has been extensively documented by scholars.
