It's the latest in a long line of blunders and one of the deadliest. On December 5, 85 people celebrating the Mawlid, the event commemorating the birth of Mohammed, were killed by a drone strike in a village in Kaduna state, northern Nigeria. The army, which on that day thought it was targeting an armed group, has made extensive use of these unmanned aircraft in its dual war against Islamic terrorism and bandits, at the cost of considerable collateral damage. According to the organization Human Rights Watch (HRW), more than 300 Nigerians have died "by mistake" in drone strikes since 2017.
Long reserved for anti-terrorist operations led by Western armies, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are becoming a staple of arsenals on the African continent. While their use remains limited compared to the theaters of war in Ukraine or the Middle East, it is growing and is already revolutionizing how war is waged.
Over the past five years, more than 20 African countries have equipped themselves with UAVs, particularly in North Africa and, more recently, in the Sahel. Egypt has 42 armed UAVs, the largest fleet on the continent, according to data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). The latest to join in is the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), which in May acquired three Chinese CH-4 UAVs and a ground station to combat the rebel group M23 in the east of the country.
For African armies in need of funding, UAVs are a major game-changer: Not only do they enable them to maintain firm control over the air, but their cost is around 20 times less than that of fighter aircraft. Class III armed UAVs cost between €2 and €20 million, while Class I and Class II tactical UAVs, which are less durable and mainly deployed for surveillance missions, can cost less than €1 million. They also provide the unique ability to gather intelligence in difficult-to-access territories.
In Ethiopia, drones played a decisive role in the Ethiopian army's victory in the Tigray war (2020-2022). In the summer of 2021, when the rebels of the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) were getting dangerously close to the capital of Addis Ababa, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, himself a former colonel, acquired Turkish, Iranian and Chinese drones in the space of a few weeks.
Their impact was spectacular. Deployed simultaneously in Ethiopian skies, the drones pounded rebel positions, cutting supply lines, destroying heavy weapons and eliminating several Tigrayan generals in "signature strikes" – targeted attacks on enemy officers. Insurgents had no choice but to retreat to Tigray province. "Sometimes, eight drones were in the air at the same time, so we had to rethink our entire strategy," said a Tigrayan officer, terrified by the effectiveness of the aircraft and the feeling of vulnerability they instilled. Defeated, the FLPT was forced to sign a peace agreement a year later.
You have 60% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only.