Collection backbone

Africa OSINT source registry

Nothing on this platform comes from an unnamed feed. This is the register of what we collect from, what each source is genuinely good for, how reliable we hold the publisher to be, and how often we pull from it. Tier 1 is the backbone — when those sources are silent on a question, we report the gap rather than substituting weaker material.

Registered sources

Tier 1 essential

Grade A publishers

Countries in scope

Tier 1 — Essential Africa OSINT

The backbone. Every country assessment, journey brief and situation-room layer draws on these first, and each is named in the record it informs.

Tier 1 — Essential Africa OSINT
Source	Best for	Layer	Reliability	Collection
ACLEDAll 54 African states, event-level	Political violence, protests and conflict events, geolocated to admin level	L1Conflict & armed groups	A	Daily
UN OCHA / HDXContinental, with admin boundaries and 3W operational data	Humanitarian, population, displacement and operational datasets	L2Early warning & emergencies	A	Daily
ReliefWebCountry and crisis pages for every African emergency	Humanitarian reports, situation updates and emergency declarations	L2Early warning & emergencies	A	Continuous
Insecurity InsightAid-in-danger and health-care attack reporting across Africa	Violence affecting health care, aid workers and civilians	L1Conflict & armed groups	A	Weekly
UN agenciesDisplacement tracking, food security and health surveillance	Country security and humanitarian information — UNHCR, IOM DTM, WFP, WHO, UNDSS advisories	L2Early warning & emergencies	A	Daily to weekly by agency
Named feeds pulled UNHCR Operational Data PortalRefugee and IDP population figures by country and settlement IOM Displacement Tracking MatrixMovement, site and flow monitoring across the Horn and Sahel WFP HungerMapNear-real-time food-consumption and market stress indicators WHO AFRO outbreak bulletinsWeekly emergency and epidemic surveillance for Africa UNMISS / MONUSCO / ATMIS reportingMission-level security context where mandates are active
Government sourcesNational gazettes, electoral commissions, aviation and port notices	Regulations, elections, curfews, closures and official security announcements	L5Strategic & political risk	A	As published
Named feeds pulled National electoral commissionsPoll dates, results timelines and campaign-period restrictions Civil aviation NOTAMsAirspace closures, runway status and overflight restrictions Port and maritime authority noticesBerth availability, strikes and channel restrictions Foreign ministry travel advisoriesFCDO, US State Department, France, Canada — compared, never copied
Local African mediaNational and regional outlets in all five working languages	Early indicators and local developments in English, French, Arabic, Swahili and Somali	L1Conflict & armed groups	B	Continuous
Named feeds pulled English-language outletsDaily Nation, The Standard, Sudan Tribune, Premium Times, Mail & Guardian French-language outletsJeune Afrique, RFI Afrique, Actualite.cd, Sahel coverage Arabic-language outletsSudan, Egypt, Libya and Horn coverage Swahili and Somali outletsKenya, Tanzania, Somalia and Somaliland local reporting
Satellite & geospatial dataCopernicus Sentinel, NASA FIRMS fire detections, USGS hazards	Infrastructure, displacement, environmental and conflict indicators	L3GEOINT & remote sensing	A	Daily passes
Named feeds pulled Copernicus Sentinel-1/2Radar and optical imagery for damage and flood extent NASA FIRMSActive fire and thermal anomaly detections, useful for village burning Copernicus EMS rapid mappingActivated damage and flood delineation products USGS earthquake and hazard feedsSeismic events and hazard baselines

Tier 2 — Corroboration & context

Used to confirm, date or contextualise a Tier 1 signal. Strong on pattern and background, weaker on single-incident precision.

Tier 2 — Corroboration & context
Source	Best for	Layer	Reliability	Collection
UCDP Georeferenced Event DatasetAfrica-wide since 1989	Long-run organised-violence baselines used to judge whether current tempo is unusual	L1Conflict & armed groups	A	Annual, with candidate monthly files
GDACSGlobal, filtered to African exposure	Automated disaster alerts — flood, cyclone, drought, earthquake	L2Early warning & emergencies	B	Continuous
FEWS NETHorn, Sahel, Great Lakes and Southern Africa	Food-security phase outlooks that precede displacement and access loss	L2Early warning & emergencies	A	Monthly and quarterly
GDELTGlobal media, language-filtered to Africa	Media volume and tone shifts used as a tripwire, never as a fact	L5Strategic & political risk	C	15 minutes
OpenSanctionsConsolidated global lists with African entity coverage	Sanctions, PEP and enforcement screening for due diligence	L5Strategic & political risk	A	Daily
IMB & maritime noticesGulf of Aden, Somali basin, Gulf of Guinea, Mozambique Channel	Piracy, armed robbery at sea and port advisories	L1Conflict & armed groups	A	Weekly
CISA / AlienVault OTX / URLhausGlobal indicators, triaged for sector relevance	Threat indicators and advisories relevant to NGO networks and donor systems	L4Cybersecurity	B	Continuous
Research institutesRegional and thematic analysis	Structural drivers and political-economy background — ISS Africa, Crisis Group, Chatham House	L5Strategic & political risk	A	As published

Tier 3 — Verification tradecraft

Techniques rather than feeds. Applied before a contested image, claim or location is allowed to influence a rating.

Tier 3 — Verification tradecraft
Source	Best for	Layer	Reliability	Collection
Reverse image searchApplied to all user-submitted and social imagery	Detecting recycled or mislabelled imagery before it is cited	L6Verification	B	Per claim
Chronolocation & shadow analysisUsed on contested incident footage	Testing whether footage was taken when a source claims	L6Verification	B	Per claim
Satellite corroborationSentinel-2 and FIRMS overlays on reported coordinates	Confirming reported burning, flooding or structural damage independently	L6Verification	A	Per claim, subject to pass timing
Practitioner networkHorn, East Africa, Sahel, Great Lakes, coastal West Africa	Ground detail automation cannot see — access, checkpoint behaviour, local sentiment	L6Verification	B	On request

Reading the reliability grades

Grades follow the NATO admiralty convention and describe the publisher, never an individual claim. Credibility of a specific report remains an analyst judgement recorded alongside the record.

Grade A: Completely reliable — institutional record, methodology published
Grade B: Usually reliable — sound record, occasional correction needed
Grade C: Fairly reliable — useful signal, requires corroboration
Grade D: Not always reliable — treated as a lead only

How a source becomes a published record

Collect

Tier 1 first, tagged to one of six collection layers and to an African country or water body.

Corroborate

Country attribution and severity checked against an independent record before any rating moves.

Verify

Contested imagery and locations run through Tier 3 tradecraft, or held back.

Sign

A named analyst sets confidence and horizon. Automation drafts; it never publishes.

Grading & methodology Africa Intelligence Centre

Questions we get about the registry

Which sources form the Tier 1 backbone?

ACLED for political violence and protest events, UN OCHA/HDX for humanitarian and displacement datasets, ReliefWeb for situation reports and emergency declarations, Insecurity Insight for violence affecting aid and health care, UN agency portals (UNHCR, IOM DTM, WFP, WHO), official government and regulator notices, local African media in English, French, Arabic, Swahili and Somali, and satellite or geospatial data from Copernicus, NASA FIRMS and USGS.

What do the reliability grades mean?

Grades follow the NATO admiralty convention and describe the publisher, not the individual claim. A is completely reliable with a published methodology, B usually reliable, C fairly reliable and needing corroboration, D a lead only. Credibility of any single claim stays an analyst judgement.

What happens when Tier 1 sources are silent on a question?

We report the evidence gap rather than substituting weaker material. Tier 2 can date or contextualise a signal, and Tier 3 verification tradecraft is applied before contested imagery or locations influence a rating, but no record is published without a named analyst setting confidence.

Source names and datasets belong to their publishers and are cited for attribution. We hold no affiliation with, or endorsement from, the organisations listed here.