The Kingdom of Morocco is the most westerly of the North African countries known as the Maghreb.

Strategically situated with both Atlantic and Mediterranean coastlines, but with a rugged mountainous interior, it stayed independent for centuries while developing a rich culture blended from Arab, Berber, European and African influences.

Morocco was a French protectorate from 1912 to 1956, when Sultan Mohammed became king. He was succeeded in 1961 by his son, Hassan II, who ruled for 38 years. He played a prominent role in the search for peace in the Middle East, given the large number of Israelis of Moroccan origin, but was criticised for suppressing domestic opposition.

A truth commission set up to investigate human rights violations during Hassan's reign has confirmed nearly 10,000 cases, ranging from death in detention to forced exile.

A former capital, Marrakesh is famed for its architecture

After his death in 1999 Hassan was succeeded by his son, who became King Mohammed VI and was seen as a moderniser. Mohammed VI introduced some economic and social liberalisation, and in 2011 he revised the constitution in response to “Arab Spring”-style protests. However, the monarch still retains considerable power and can veto most government decisions.

Morocco has expressed interest in becoming a member of the European Union, its main trade partner, but there appears to be little enthusiasm for this within the bloc.

To the south, the status of Western Sahara remains unresolved. Morocco annexed the territory in 1975 and a guerrilla war with Algerian-backed pro-independence forces ended in 1991. UN efforts have failed to break the political deadlock.

To the north, a dispute with Spain in 2002 over the tiny island of Perejil revived the issue of the sovereignty of Melilla and Ceuta. The small enclaves on the Mediterranean coast are surrounded by Morocco and have been administered by Madrid for centuries.

Morocco has been given the status of non-Nato ally by Washington, which has praised its support for the US-led war on terror. After deadly suicide bombings in Casablanca in 2003, Morocco launched a crackdown on suspected Islamic militants.

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African Union forces have made significant gains in repelling al-Shabab militants

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Somalia – Failed State

Three reasons to help Somalia

Failed state or can-do nation?

Is al-Shabab on the back foot?

Window of hope

The UN Security Council are to vote to increase the African Union peacekeeping force in Somalia by more than 5,000 soldiers, diplomats have said.

The resolution will increase the number of troops in the country to 17,731 from its current level of 12,000.

The vote on Wednesday comes ahead of an international conference on Somalia to be held in London.

The resolution is also expected to ban the trade in charcoal, a major source of income for al-Shabab militants.

The armed Islamist group controls many southern and central parts of Somalia, which has been without an effective central government since 1991.

Political solution

Nearly 1.5 million Somalis have been forced from their homes during the conflict.

Last year, al-Shabab was forced out of many parts of the capital, Mogadishu, by forces allied to the UN-backed government. Since then, the group has also lost ground in other areas.

In October, Kenyan troops crossed over the border in pursuit of al-Shabab members it blames for a series of kidnappings in Kenyan territory.

Earlier this month, they captured the key town of Badhadhe, some 180km (110 miles) south of the port of Kismayo.

Ethiopian troops have also entered Somali territory to move against the Islamist militants.

The BBC's Barbara Plett, at the UN headquarters in New York, says that diplomats say the idea behind the expanded African force is to degrade al-Shabab as a military force and create a space for a political solution to the country's 20-year-old conflict.

The council resolution sets the African troops the task of moving into new areas of Somalia “to take all necessary measures” with Somali security forces “to reduce the threat posed by al-Shabab and other armed opposition groups,” according to a copy of the text seen by AFP news agency.

The African Union mission already in the country is made up of troops from Burundi, Uganda and Djibouti but will take in Kenyan soldiers now fighting in Somalia.

The resolution will also require all UN members to stop trade in charcoal from Somalia, which is causing deforestation and serious environmental damage in the drought-prone country.

Though the government already bans charcoal exports from areas it controls, the trade is thriving in rebel-held areas.

Several ships loaded with charcoal are reported to leave the militant-controlled port of Kismayo each week, most bound for the Gulf states.

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Oil has been found off the coasts of Liberia and Sierra Leone, energy companies have announced.

African Petroleum and Anadarko say further tests are needed to see how commercially viable the finds are.

Nevertheless, hopes have been raised that an oil bonanza could spur growth in the West African states – still recovering from civil wars.

Drillers rushed to the region five years ago when one of Africa's biggest oil fields was discovered off Ghana.

Liberia and Sierra Leone have been eager to develop their mining and energy industries after years of conflict hindered investment and left infrastructure in ruins.

The government of Sierra Leone issued a statement congratulating Anadarko.

This is the second oil field Andarko has found off Sierra Leone.

Liberia has also welcomed the latest discovery – but urged patience.

“It will take time to fully appraise this discovery,” Liberia National Oil company head Randolph McClain said on local radio, according to Reuters news agency.

“And years – between five to seven years – before a drop of oil is produced from the well.”

Further west, Nigeria is Africa's biggest oil producer.

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Scores have been killed and injured in clashes between two rival ethnic groups in Libya's remote south-eastern area, according to local reports.

Rockets, mortars and gunfire have rocked residential areas in the desert town of al-Kufra for the past 24 hours, aid workers say.

Fighting first broke out between the Zwai and the Tebu groups 10 days ago.

The new government is struggling to rein in armed groups jostling for power after the fall of Col Muammar Gaddafi.

The Arab Zawi people are battling with the African Tebu ethnic group in al-Kufra.

The Tebu complained of discrimination during the Gaddafi era.

Army chief Yousef al-Mangoush told Reuters a ceasefire was agreed on Sunday – but clashes intensified on Monday.

He said government troops would be sent in if fighting does not stop in al-Kufra, which is about 2,000km (1,250 miles) from the capital Tripoli.

Last week, human rights group Amnesty International warned that armed militias are threatening the security and stability of Libya.

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Robert Mugabe was brought up as a Roman Catholic

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Zimbabwe – New Era?

Wikileaks woe for Mugabe

Return to Harare

Glasnost – African style

Lay of the land

Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe has denied reports he has cancer, joking that he has died and been resurrected more times than Jesus Christ.

On his 88th birthday, he told state radio: “I am fit as a fiddle”.

Making light of numerous media reports of his sickness, the Roman Catholic Mr Mugabe said: “I have died many times – that's where I have beaten Christ. Christ died once and resurrected once.”

After 32 years in power, he is seeking re-election in polls due before 2013.

Some reports have suggested that Mr Mugabe's health problems were a reason why he wanted to hold elections this year.

His long-time rival, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, wants a new constitution to be in place before the election.

Last year, whistle-blowing website Wikileaks released a US diplomatic cable from 2008, in which central bank governor Gideon Gono was cited as saying Mr Mugabe had prostate cancer and had less than five years to live.

Mugabe’s health tips

He told Radio Zimbabwe that his good health was down to his healthy lifestyle – getting up at 0500 to do his exercises and eating well.

“There are things one must do for oneself. Don't drink at all, don't smoke, you must exercise and eat vegetables and fruit,'' he said, according to AP news agency.

Mr Mugabe is accused of widespread human rights abuses during his time in power, including unleashing the army and militias to attack opposition supporters during the 2008 elections.

This prompted Mr Tsvangirai to pull out of a run-off, before joining his rival in a power-sharing government which has managed to halt the country's economic meltdown.

Mr Mugabe denies the accusations and blames his country's woes on a British-inspired plot to oust him because of his policy of seizing white-owned land.

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Some talked of “bodies of children littering the battle-fronts”

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Somalia – Failed State

Three reasons to help Somalia

Failed state or can-do nation?

Is al-Shabab on the back foot?

Window of hope

Entire classrooms of Somali children – some as young as 10 – have been forced to fight for Islamist militants, a Human Rights Watch (HRW) report says.

An unprecedented number of children have been abducted over the past two years, HRW said.

Boys are often sent to the frontline to serve as “cannon fodder” to protect adult fighters – and girls used as “wives” for al-Shabab fighters.

Al-Shabab controls many southern and central parts of Somalia.

But forces allied to the UN-backed government last year pushed them out of the capital, Mogadishu.

‘Nowhere is safe’

The use of child soldiers is not a new phenomenon in Somalia.

What is different, HRW said in a report released on Tuesday, is the scale and violence of the forcible recruitment by al-Shabab since 2010.

“Over the course of the last two years, al-Shabab has increasingly been forcibly abducting children – not only from their homes, but also from their schools and playing fields,” HRW researcher Laetitia Bader told the BBC's Network Africa programme.

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“Start Quote

The children all died and the bigger soldiers ran away”

End Quote Somali boy, 15

“Nowhere is safe for children in Somalia any more,” she said.

The report is based on more than 164 interviews with Somali children – including 21 who had escaped from al-Shabab forces, as well as parents and teachers who had fled to Kenya.

“Out of all my classmates – about 100 boys – only two of us escaped, the rest were killed,” a 15-year-old boy told HRW.

“The children were cleaned off. The children all died and the bigger soldiers ran away,” he said of an incident that happened in 2010.

Training camps

More than 70 children described to the New York-based group how entire classrooms were abducted from their schools and taken to al-Shabab training camps.

Most spent up to three months in training camps, where they were used as domestic workers and taught to use weapons, including AK-47s, and how to throw hand grenades.

While in the camp, children were also subjected to abuse – and made to witness the assault and killing of people al-Shabab considered enemies.

Other children interviewed talked of “bodies of children littering the battle-fronts”, Ms Bader said.

The majority of children being forced to join al-Shabab are between 14 and 17 years old, but some are as young as 10, she said.

The Somali transitional government was also criticised for not doing enough to end the own use of child soldiers in its ranks and those of its allies.

Analysts say al-Shabab's military position has been weakened by recent gains by African Union troops, and Kenyan and Ethiopian forces.

A major diplomatic push to restore stability in Somalia is underway – and the UK government is holding a conference in London on Thursday to try to find a political solution.

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Unamid peacekeepers are tasked with protecting civilians in the troubled Darfur province

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Deadly Darfur

Darfur: World's favourite war?

In pictures: Portraits of Darfur

Q&A: Darfur conflict

Who are Sudan's Darfur rebels?

Rebels in Sudan's Darfur province claim they have seized 49 African peacekeepers and three suspected Sudanese security agents.

Rebels from the Justice and Equality Movement (Jem) accuse the peacekeepers of entering rebel-held territory without permission.

Most of those seized are Senegalese troops with the joint UN-African Union peace mission (Unamid), the rebels say.

Two million people are in refugee camps after nine years of conflict in Darfur.

However, the fighting has largely died down in recent years.

A Unamid spokesperson told the BBC that there were “ongoing negotiations” to resolve a “situation” but did not confirm that any peacekeepers had been captured.

Jem spokesman Gibreel Adam Bilal said that soldiers from Ghana, Rwanda and Yemen had been seized, along with the Senegalese.

“If it is true that Unamid works with Sudan security agents, then we will ask the UN to fire the head of the Unamid force,” he told Reuters news agency.

Senegalese troops operate mainly in the north-west of Darfur, near the border with Chad.

The BBC's James Copnall in Khartoum says relations between Jem and the peacekeeping force have not been particularly good recently.

The UN estimates that more than 300,000 people have died in Darfur, mostly from disease, since rebels took up arms in 2003.

The government in Khartoum puts the figure at about 12,000 deaths, and says the number of casualties has been exaggerated for political reasons.

A peace deal between the government and an alliance of Darfur rebel factions was agreed last year but the three main rebel groups – including Jem – did not sign.

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir is wanted by the Hague-based International Criminal Court for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in Darfur. He denies the allegations.

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Senegal has been rocked by five straight days of violent protests

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Senegal's government has apologised for a “police blunder” after tear gas was fired near a mosque amid protests against President Abdoulaye Wade's re-election bid.

One person reportedly died on Sunday after a demonstration to condemn Friday's tear-gas incident in Dakar.

Six people have now been killed in anti-Wade protests this year, local media say.

Despite the protests, Mr Wade, 85, is standing in Sunday's election.

He is seeking a third term after first winning elections in 2000.

Interior Minister Ousmane Ngom apologised after tear gas drifted inside a mosque where people were praying on Friday.

“I would like to present, in my personal name and on behalf of the highest authorities of national police, our most sincere apologies to the caliph” of the Tidiane brotherhood (Senegal's largest) and his followers, he told the Senegalese Press Agency (APS).

He also urged politicians not to hold protests near mosques in the mainly Muslim nation.

Sunday's protest outside the mosque turned violent with hundreds of demonstrators setting up burning barricades and throwing stones at the police, who responded with tear gas and rubber bullets, according to the AFP news agency.

The protests began on a main road in central Dakar but later spread around the capital.

One young man was killed in Rufisque, just outside Dakar, while a tailor died of his injuries in the central town of Kaolack on Saturday, APS reports.

Senegal has now seen five consecutive day of clashes.

The country is often held up as one of Africa's model democracies – it remains the only West African country where the army has never seized power.

But protests broke out in January after the country's highest court ruled that Mr Wade could seek a third term and banned singer Youssou Ndour from standing.

The constitution limits heads of state to two terms in office but the judges ruled that Mr Wade's first term did not count as this was before the limit was introduced.

Once a veteran opposition leader himself, Mr Wade, 85, was first elected in 2000 – ending 40 years of rule by the Socialist Party.

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