A breakaway, semi-desert territory on the coast of the Gulf of Aden, Somaliland declared independence after the overthrow of Somali military dictator Siad Barre in 1991.
The move followed a secessionist struggle during which Siad Barre's forces pursued rebel guerrillas in the territory. Tens of thousands of people were killed and towns were flattened.
Though not internationally recognised, Somaliland has a working political system, government institutions, a police force and its own currency. The territory has lobbied hard to win support for its claim to be a sovereign state.
The former British protectorate has also escaped much of the chaos and violence that plague Somalia, although attacks on Western aid workers in 2003 raised fears that Islamic militants in the territory were targeting foreigners.
Although there is a thriving private business sector, poverty and unemployment are widespread. The economy is highly dependent on money sent home by members of the diaspora. Duties from Berbera, a port used by landlocked Ethiopia, and livestock exports are important sources of revenue.
The latter have been hit by embargoes on exports, imposed by some Gulf countries to inhibit the spread of Rift Valley Fever.
Somaliland is in dispute with the neighbouring autonomous Somali region of Puntland over the Sanaag and Sool areas, some of whose inhabitants owe their allegiance to Puntland.
Somaliland's leaders have distanced themselves from Somalia's central transitional government, set up in 2004 following long-running talks in Kenya, which they see as a threat to Somaliland's autonomy.
Somaliland was independent for a few days in 1960, between the end of British colonial rule and its union with the former Italian colony of Somalia. More than 40 years later voters in the territory overwhelmingly backed its self-declared independence in a 2001 referendum.
Namibia, a large and sparsely populated country on Africa's south-west coast, has enjoyed stability since gaining independence in 1990 after a long struggle against rule by South Africa.
Germany took control of the area which it called South West Africa in the late 1800s. The discovery of diamonds in 1908 prompted an influx of Europeans. South Africa seized it during World War I and administered it under a League of Nations mandate.
Germany has apologised to Namibia for the colonial-era killings of thousands of members of the Herero ethnic group; their descendants have asked Berlin for financial compensation.
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At a glance
Politics: President Pohamba took over from independence fighter Sam Nujoma, who led the ruling SWAPO party until 2007. The opposition has only minor representation in parliament
Economy: Main trading partner is South Africa. Government keen to step up land acquisitions from white farmers
Namibians achieved independence in 1990 after a bush war of almost 25 years. Inter-racial reconciliation encouraged the country's white people to remain and they still play a major role in farming and other economic sectors.
In recent years supporters of land reform have become more vocal. The expropriation of white-owned farms began in 2005 and the government says it aims to resettle many thousands of landless citizens.
Like its neighbours, Namibia's wellbeing is being threatened by the HIV/Aids epidemic, which is estimated to affect 25% of Namibians. Mr Nujoma made the fight against the disease a national priority.
In the late 1990s secessionist troubles in the Caprivi Strip, in eastern Namibia, prompted thousands to flee to Botswana. In 2002 the government declared that the area was safe for tourists.
Deserts occupy much of the country; their dunes take on shapes and colours according to the elements. The country also boasts game-rich grasslands and a semi-arid Central Plateau, large tracts of which are given over to livestock farming.
St Helena and its dependencies – Ascension Island and Tristan da Cunha – are remote islands about midway between Africa and South America in the South Atlantic Ocean.
Though far from each other, they form a single territorial grouping under the sovereignty of the British Crown. Apart from Ascension, the islands are only accessible by sea.
St Helena is probably best known as the island to which French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte was exiled in 1815 after his defeat at Waterloo. The Zulu Chief, Dinizulu, was confined to St Helena in 1890 and up to 6,000 Boer prisoners were held there after the South African war of 1899-1902.
After being discovered by the Portuguese in 1502, St Helena became a busy way station for sea farers up until the late 1800s when steam started replacing sail, and the opening of the Suez Canal changed the pattern of sea routes.
Its fortunes, however, have declined and several of its residents have left. But the British government hopes to reverse the trend and help the island become self-sufficient by making it accessible by air and therefore more attractive to tourists.
The plan is for an airport to be completed in 2011 or 2012. The (Royal Mail Ship) RMS St Helena is currently the only public form of access to the island.
Ascension Island, a desert island situated just south of the equator, is a vital staging post for Britain in the South Atlantic. Being about half way between Britain and the Falklands, it served as a key logistical base for troops heading for the Falklands war in 1982.
Ascension was an important communications and operations centre during both World Wars and its Wideawake Airfield is now shared by the British and American air forces.
The island has a transient population of about 1,000, mainly Britons, Americans and St Helenians involved in the military, telecommunications and satellite tracking. It can be reached by air or by the RMS St Helena.
Britain has expressed the intention of applying to the UN to extend its territorial rights around Ascension Island on the grounds that the island's landmass actually reaches much further underwater.
This would give Britain more extensive rights over any oil or gas reserves in the areas.
Tristan da Cunha was at one time on the main trading route between Europe and the Indian Ocean, but the small community living there is now extremely isolated.
It is situated 2,800 km west of Cape Town, South Africa, and is part of a group of islands which includes Inaccessible, Nightingale, Middle, Stoltenhoff, and Gough – which has a manned weather station.
Although Tristan da Cunha was discovered in 1506, it remained uninhabited until it was used by US whalers in the late 1700s. The British navy stationed a garrison there during Napoleon's exile on St Helena, and when the garrison was withdrawn, three men stayed behind and became the founders of the present settlement.
According to Tristan da Cunha's official website the island “was ignored by early explorers as a possible home due to its rugged mountain landscape, absence of natural harbour, lack of land for agriculture, and a harsh climate with heavy rain and high winds at all seasons. It took an extra-ordinary breed of people, ready to live at the margins of life, to settle and eventually thrive in the world's most isolated community.”
It says that Tristan da Cunha “offers the world a special social and economic organisation evolved over the years, but based on the principles set out by William Glass in 1817 when he established a settlement based on equality.”
Senegal has been held up as one of Africa's model democracies. It has an established multi-party system and a tradition of civilian rule.
Although poverty is widespread and unemployment is high, the country has one of the region's more stable economies.
For the Senegalese, political participation and peaceful leadership changes are not new. Even as a colony Senegal had representatives in the French parliament. And the promoter of African culture, Leopold Senghor, who became president at independence in 1960, voluntarily handed over power to Abdou Diouf in 1980.
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At a glance
Politics: Outgoing President Abdoulaye Wade came to power in 2000 and conceded defeat after the March 2012 run-off vote
Economy: Agriculture drives the economy; tourism is a source of foreign exchange
International: Senegal has mediated between Sudan and Chad over Darfur tensions; many African illegal migrants use Senegal as a departure point for Europe
Security: Despite a peace deal, a low-level separatist rebellion simmers in Casamance, in the south
Country profiles compiled by BBC Monitoring
The 40-year rule of Senegal's Socialist Party came to a peaceful end in elections in 2000, which were hailed as a rare democratic power transfer on a continent plagued by coups, conflict and election fraud.
Separatists
Senegal is on the western-most part of the bulge of Africa and includes desert in the north and a moist, tropical south.
Slaves, ivory and gold were exported from the coast during the 17th and 18th centuries and now the economy is based mainly on agriculture. The money sent home by Senegalese living abroad is a key source of revenue.
A long-running, low-level separatist war in the southern Casamance region has claimed hundreds of lives. The conflict broke out over claims by the region's people that they were being marginalised by the Wolof, Senegal's main ethnic group.
The government and rebels signed a peace pact at the end of 2004, raising hopes for reconciliation.
On the world stage, Senegal has sent peacekeeping troops to DR Congo, Liberia and Kosovo.
A mainly desert territory in north-west Africa, Western Sahara is the subject of a decades-long dispute between Morocco and the Algerian-backed Polisario Front.
The territory is phosphate-rich and believed to have offshore oil deposits. Most of it has been under Moroccan control since 1976.
Western Sahara fell under Spanish rule in 1884, becoming a Spanish province in 1934. Nationalism emerged in the 1960s, as nomadic Saharans, or Saharawis, settled in the region.
Polisario was set up on 10 May 1973 and established itself as the sole representative of the Saharan people. Some 100,000 refugees still live in Polisario's camps in Algeria.
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At a glance
Seized by Morocco after Spain and Mauritania withdrew
Polisario Front seeks independence
Morocco only prepared to grant autonomy
Territory rich in phosphates, fisheries and possibly offshore oil
Cease-fire in place since 1991
Country profiles compiled by BBC Monitoring
Madrid Agreement
In October 1975 the International Court of Justice rejected territorial claims by Morocco and Mauritania. The court recognised the Saharawis' right to self-determination and Spain agreed to organise a referendum.
But in November 1975, Moroccan King Hassan II ordered a “Green March” of over 300,000 Moroccans into the territory. Spain backed down and negotiated a settlement with Morocco and Mauritania, known as the Madrid Agreement.
Signed on 14 November 1975, the deal partitioned the region. Morocco acquired two-thirds in the north and Mauritania the remaining third. Spain agreed to end colonial rule.
Polisario declared the Saharan Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) on 27 February 1976 and announced its first government on 4 March.
The current SADR president, Mohamed Abdelaziz, was elected Polisario secretary-general in August 1976.
In August 1978, one month after a coup, a new Mauritanian government signed a peace deal with Polisario and renounced all territorial claims.
Morocco moved to occupy areas allocated to Mauritania. Algeria in turn allowed refugees to settle in its southern town of Tindouf, where Polisario still has its main base.
Polisario led a guerrilla war against Moroccan forces until 1991.
Referendum
In April 1991 the UN established Minurso, the United Nations Mission for a Referendum in Western Sahara. Its brief was to implement a peace plan outlined in a 1990 Security Council resolution. In September 1991 a UN-brokered ceasefire was declared.
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Key dates
Moroccan settlers head for Western Sahara during the 'Green March'
1884: Spain colonises Western Sahara
1973: Polisario set up
1975: World Court rules people should decide on sovereignty
1975: “Green March”, Spain agrees to hand over to Morocco, Mauritania
1976: Spain withdraws, SADR declared
1979: Morocco annexes Mauritania's share
1976-1991: Guerrilla warfare
1991: Minurso established
1991: Ceasefire declared
1996: UN suspends referendum moves
2001: Baker plan
2007-8: Talks fail to reach resolution
The peace plan provided for a transition period, leading to a referendum in January 1992. Western Saharans would choose between independence and integration with Morocco.
Minurso was to total 1,000 civilian and 1,700 military personnel. Its brief was to monitor the ceasefire, the confinement of warring parties to designated areas and the exchange of prisoners.
While the ceasefire held, the mission was never fully deployed. Nor was the transition period ever completed. A key sticking point was an “identification process”, to decide who was eligible to vote.
Identification was to be based on a census carried out by Spain in 1973. Polisario wanted to rule out Moroccans who settled in Western Sahara after the Green March.
In May 1996 the UN suspended the identification process and recalled most Minurso civilian staff. Military personnel stayed to oversee the truce.
Initial attempts to revive the process foundered over Morocco's worries that a referendum would not serve its interests.
Baker plan
Peace returned to the drawing board when UN special envoy James Baker mediated in talks between Polisario and Morocco in London, Lisbon and Houston in 1997, then in London again in 2000.
Agreements were reached on the release of POWs, a code of conduct for a referendum campaign, UN authority during a transition period – but not on voter eligibility. Further talks were held in Berlin and Geneva in 2000, but again ran into trouble.
In a new bid to break the deadlock, James Baker submitted a “Framework Agreement”, known as the Third Way, in June 2001.
It provided for autonomy for Saharawis under Moroccan sovereignty, a referendum after a four-year transition period, and voting rights for Moroccan settlers resident in Western Sahara for over a year.
This formula was rejected by Polisario and Algeria. Then in July 2003, the UN adopted a compromise resolution proposing that Western Sahara become a semi-autonomous region of Morocco for a transition period of up to five years.
A referendum would then take place on independence, semi-autonomy or integration with Morocco.
This compromise was seen as addressing Moroccan concerns, in a bid to entice it to agree to a referendum.
Impasse
Polisario signalled its readiness to accept, but Morocco rejected the plan, citing security concerns. Envoy James Baker resigned in June 2004 and the UN process remains deadlocked.
Talks resumed between Morocco and the Polisario Front in March 2008 in New York, with Mauritania and Algeria also attending. They made no progress.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice sought to break the impasse during a visit to North Africa in September, but the pursuit of al-Qaeda networks in Morocco and Algeria took precedence.
In January 2009 UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon appointed US diplomat Christopher Ross as his new special envoy to deal with Western Sahara. Mr Ross was once US ambassador to Algeria.
In November 2010, several people were killed in violent clashes between Moroccan security forces and protesters near the capital Laayoune, shortly before UN-mediated talks on the future of the territory were due to open in New York.
Gabon is one of West Africa's more stable countries. Since independence from France in 1960 Gabon has had just two presidents. Its late leader, President Omar Bongo, was in power for over four decades.
Despite being made up of more than 40 ethnic groups, Gabon has escaped the strife afflicting other West African states.
This is partly down to its relative prosperity due to oil and to the presence of French troops, which in 1964 reinstated President Leon Mba after he had been overthrown in a coup.
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At a glance
Politics: Gabon was ruled by just two presidents between 1960 and 2009. The current president succeeded his father
Economy: The country is trying to diversify away from oil, whose earnings have been decreasing. Most of the population remains poor
International: Tension persists over three small islands in oil-rich off-shore waters claimed by Gabon and Equatorial Guinea. France has a military base in Gabon
Country profiles compiled by BBC Monitoring
Gabon's dependence on oil has made its economy – and political stability – hostage to fluctuations in oil prices. When oil prices fell in the late 1980s, opposition to President Bongo increased, culminating in demonstrations in 1990.
These ushered in political liberalisation. A multi-party system was introduced in 1991.
Government critics have pointed to the wealth gap between the urban elite and the rural poor.
Thanks to its oil exports and a small population it enjoys more wealth per head of population than many of its neighbours. However, most of its people live in poverty.
As oil reserves diminish, eco-tourism could grow in economic importance. Gabon's rainforests teem with wildlife, including lowland gorillas and forest elephants. National parks make up around one tenth of the land area.
The Indian Ocean islands of Zanzibar and Pemba lie off the east African coast.
The semi-autonomous territory maintains a political union with Tanzania, but has its own parliament and president.
A former centre of the spice and slave trades, present-day Zanzibar is infused with African, Arab, European and Indian influences.
Zanzibar's original settlers were Bantu-speaking Africans. From the 10th century Persians arrived. But it was Arab incomers, particularly Omanis, whose influence was paramount.
They set up trading colonies and in 1832 the Omani sultan moved his capital from Muscat to Zanzibar, which had become a major slave-trading centre. Zanzibar became an independent sultanate.
The slave trade was abolished in 1873 and in 1890 the British declared Zanzibar a protectorate. In 1963 the islands regained independence, but upheaval was around the corner.
Revolution
In January 1964 members of the African majority overthrew the established minority Arab ruling elite. The leftist revolution was swift but bloody; as many as 17,000 people were killed.
A republic was established and in April the presidents of Zanzibar and Tanganyika, on the mainland, signed an act of union, forming the United Republic of Tanzania while giving semi-autonomy to Zanzibar.
Under international pressure, Zanzibar held multi-party elections in 1995, which were won by the ruling, pro-union Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party. The opposition Civic United Front (CUF) rejected the outcome and alleged vote rigging. Political violence ensued.
The CCM won troubled polls in 2000 and 2005, both characterised by violence and fraud accusations. In 2000 many CUF supporters fled to Kenya after deadly clashes with police. Both parties signed a reconciliation agreement in 2001, but political tension persisted.
In protest against the 2005 election result, the CUF boycotted the island's parliament for four years, rejoining in 2009 in order, it said, to prevent violence in the run-up to the upcoming fresh elections.
Voters in a July 2010 referendum accepted proposals for rival political parties to share power. The reform followed a gradual rapprochement between the CCM and CUF.
The CCM wants Zanzibar to remain part of Tanzania. But the CUF, which has strong support among the descendants of the deposed Arabs, has called for greater autonomy. Some CUF members want independence.
Tourism is Zanzibar's newest and biggest industry. But most Zanzibaris have yet to benefit from it; the average wage is less than $1 per day.
Evaristo Cumbane used to work for Radio Mozambique
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African Dream
Nollywood 2.0
Food for thought
Successful couple
Pill pioneer
Mozambique's Evaristo Cumbane believes that running a business magazine is like fishing in the high seas.
For more than a decade he was a radio journalist but one of his dreams was to run his own business and he made it come true five years ago when he started a publication to promote investment in his country.
The magazine, Investir, covers different sectors such as agriculture, industry, infrastructure, mining and tourism.
His company, Investir Lda, currently employs only three people on a permanent basis but has several collaborators.
Mr Cumbane told the BBC's series African Dream that his employees are “people with the same vision as mine, people like fishermen”.
“All of us have to go to the sea and extend the net and look for fish, instead of sitting down and wait for the fish that is being brought.
“So we have to go out, bring clients together. It's not up to the director alone to bring clients. All of us have to be prepared to face the winds and to face the waves in high seas”.
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“Start Quote
It’s not up to the director alone to bring clients. All of us have to be prepared to face the winds and to face the waves in high seas”
End Quote
He warns budding entrepreneurs against employing too many people while their business is starting to take off.
“Make sure first that your business is stable, the business is guaranteeing a permanent cash flow, otherwise you'll find yourself in the newspapers or television, that so-and-so is not paying his staff, so I'm very careful with that,” he said.
Private sector
According to him, when he began publishing Investir in 2007 the only other magazine in the country was the in-flight one from the national carrier, Mozambique Airlines.
“We started at that time trying to involve the private sector to support this initiative, as the magazine itself is not for sale, it's for free distribution,” he told the BBC Africa's Jose Tembe.
“So we had to rely on sponsorships and advertisements from the private sector,” he continued.
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Evaristo Cumbane
Age: 43
Married, with three boys
Bachelor's degree in business
Worked for Radio Mozambique 1991-2003
Started his magazine in 2007
Hobbies: Playing and signing gospel music, travelling and reading spiritual books
Mr Cumbane said that he started with the minimum capital which was required by law as a deposit at the time, 20,000 meticais ($720, £450).
He pointed out that they had many obstacles at the beginning, including some imposed by competition.
“When I launched the magazine first, then other people started imitating the business and this caused us to have a small break just to rethink, to make sure that we produce something that will scare away all competitors.
“We are coming now with a brand-new style magazine which people when they'll see it they'll say: 'Yes, this is real business',” he said.
Also, after a while they realised that the magazine alone could not sustain the company.
“We started introducing other services, including translations from Portuguese to English, designing to produce magazines for others, to produce books for others, to do their layout, printing as well – we represent a big South African printer – so in conjunction with the printer we managed to get some business across South Africa,” the entrepreneur explained.
Under pressure
Mr Cumbane believes that, to keep themselves afloat, business people must be ready to reinvent themselves.
“When you start a business you always start with some estimate, with some forecasts of cash flow, how are you going to get the money, and so on, but usually your estimates prove to be wrong and when that happens you are under pressure because the expenditure continues while the cash flow does not follow the pace,” he said.
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“So, at that stage you've got to think twice, you have to strategise, you have to think of new products, new things to introduce, otherwise you close the business because the main purpose of doing business is to generate profit. If you're not generating profit then you're not doing business, so you have to go home.”
In spite of his setbacks – or probably because of what he has learned from them – he likes encouraging others to start their own businesses.
“We have to be creative and we have to create jobs as well. Many people, after finishing their training, usually they look for jobs in already established companies without realising that they themselves could set up a small business and employ other people who are looking for jobs.
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“Start Quote
You don’t start a business with a lot of money. That’s why you start a business. Otherwise you wouldn’t start a business since you have a lot of money”
End Quote
“Of course I know why they are not doing that. It's not easy to do that in Mozambique – first because of the market. It's a very small market, small in terms of economic capacity, but you need to be courageous. If you fight, you win; if you look forward, you find it; if you knock, the door will be open for you”.
He says that people are wrong to think that they need a lot of capital to create their own companies.
“You don't start a business with a lot of money. That's why you start a business. Otherwise you wouldn't start a business since you have a lot of money, you'd just deposit it in a bank and then you get interest.
“Always we start a business with little money but you need to be persistent, don't look at obstacles, don't look at the difficulties in the market, continue improving your product, improving your service, to make sure people realise that your service, your product is relevant to them.”
His long term vision is to get Investir Lda into the Southern African Development Community (SADC) market.
But he said that he will eventually go back to radio journalism.
“I haven't left. I've just interrupted it for a while because later I'll go back to radio.
“That's what I was trained for. Doing radio and using, of course, my wonderful voice,” he added laughing.
“To entertain people and inform people, that's what I like, but I needed to experiment with new things, new challenges.”
African Dream is broadcast on the BBC Network Africa programme every Monday morning.
Every week, one successful business man or woman will explain how they started off and what others could learn from them.
Fled to DR Congo as a teenager after attacks on ethnic Tutsis
At 17, he begins his fighting days – alternating between being a rebel and a soldier, in both Rwanda and DR Congo
Keen tennis player
In 2006, indicted by the ICC for allegedly recruiting child soldiers
He is in charge of troops that carry out the 2008 Kiwanji massacre
In 2009, he is integrated into the Congolese national army and made a general
In 2012, he appears to have deserted the army
Full profile
According to last November's report by the UN group of experts on the arms embargo in the DR Congo, Gen Ntaganda controls mines and other businesses in the region despite a legal ban on military officers doing so.
Their report alleged he used military units under his control to protect his financial interests and engaged in large-scale smuggling through unofficial border crossings with Rwanda controlled by his men, including one outside his house in Goma.
“The Group estimates that Ntaganda makes about $15,000 [£9,200] per week by taxing at this crossing point,” the UN experts wrote.
The report also documented Gen Ntaganda's involvement in an alleged multi-million dollar gold transaction scam targeting US investors last year.
During the first week of April, army commanders close to Gen Ntaganda began to defect and move their troops to remote strongholds in North and South Kivu.
While government forces managed to contain the mutiny in South Kivu and arrested 18 high-ranking officers due to be tried in the coming days, defectors in North Kivu regrouped in the Masisi area, where they began to clash with government forces.
By the end of the month, the confrontation had escalated into a full-scale war involving hundreds of soldiers backed by artillery on both sides.
The UN peacekeeping mission deployed temporary bases around the area of fighting and flew over it with helicopters in an attempt to limit abuses against civilians.
Rwandan connection?
The Congolese authorities have blamed the violence squarely on Gen Ntaganda and called for his arrest – though President Joseph Kabila hinted that he would prefer to see him tried before a Congolese court than at the ICC.
The general told the AFP news agency last week that he was not behind the mutiny and still considered himself as part of the national army.
Government forces suspended their offensive at the weekend and gave mutineers until Thursday to surrender, but the most recent group of defectors issued a statement on Sunday saying they were forming a new armed group under the command of Col Sultani Makenga, a long-time associate of Gen Ntaganda.
It is unclear whether this new militia is in competition with Gen Ntaganda or a front for his own rebellion.
But several security sources in Goma fear these new rebels may have found refuge and support in Rwanda, in a repeat of the Nkunda era.
Thomas d'Aquin Muiti, who chairs the North Kivu provincial committee of civil society organisations, called on Rwanda to clarify its position.
“People say those who are defecting will again receive support from Rwanda. Rwanda must prove them wrong and say: 'We no longer want to support mutinies in the Congolese army,'” Mr Muiti said.
In an interview with Jeune Afrique magazine last week, Rwandan President Paul Kagame said of the North Kivu crisis: “This is a matter for the DRC and not Rwanda.”
He added that Gen Ntaganda's arrest “may be positive, but it could equally well be very negative, yet this evaluation still hasn't been done”.
Peace after the ‘Terminator’?
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“Start Quote
A lot of the hardliners that were loyal to the side of Bosco have been marginalised”
End Quote Matthew Brubacher UN demobilisation expert
Regardless of Gen Ntaganda's personal fate, uncertainty remains as to the new balance of power that will emerge in eastern DR Congo from the current turmoil.
Matthew Brubacher, a demobilisation and disarmament expert with the UN in Goma, believes there is now momentum to break the influence networks maintained by former CNDP leaders despite the 2009 peace agreement.
“A lot of the hardliners that were loyal to the side of Bosco have been marginalised, some of them have already been arrested, and those that have stayed loyal to the government, to the national government, have been rewarded,” he said.
“It's not the end of the CNDP as such but it's the end of the CNDP as a parallel administration that's trying to be separate from the national government,” Mr Brubacher added.
Jason Stearns, from the Rift Valley Institute think tank, is more cautious.
“Both Rwanda and the ex-CNDP cadres can suffer to see Bosco go – after all, many have personal quibbles with him. But they cannot suffer to see the CNDP networks and power dismantled,” he wrote on his blog.
A lawyer representing some of the defectors arrested in the past month said their withdrawal from army ranks was not a rallying movement to protect Gen Ntaganda from arrest, but rather a natural reaction to the political manipulation and general hostility against troops integrated from the CNDP movement since 2009.
Competition for land and natural resources remain, with CNDP and army defectors claiming to defend the interests of Kinyarwanda-speaking communities, especially Tutsis, some of whom feel vulnerable after the 1994 genocide of their kinsmen in neighbouring Rwanda.
Leaders from other ethnic groups see the 2009 deal, which allows for the repatriation of Kinyarwanda-speaking refugees to North Kivu, as unduly favouring Tutsis – and some have been supporting their own militia, arguing “self-defence”.
Since 2009, the UN-backed policy pushed by the Congolese government has been to integrate willing militias into the army and combat those that resist signing peace deals through joint military operations conducted by peacekeepers and Congolese troops.
Three years on, some local peace activists would like to try a new approach, based on talks with various rebels and traditional leaders to resolve long-standing ethnic disputes – and with the ever-present Rwandan neighbour.
Sao Tome and Principe, once a leading cocoa producer, is poised to profit from the commercial exploitation of large offshore reserves of oil.
But arguments have arisen over how to spend the expected windfall, leading to political tension.
One of Africa's smallest countries, Sao Tome and Principe consists of two islands of volcanic origin and a number of smaller islets.
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At a glance
Politics: President de Menezes was re-elected in July 2006. Power is constitutionally split between president and prime minister, which has led to several cohabitation governments
Economy: Sao Tome hopes to reduce dependence on donors and cocoa exports by exploiting offshore oil. The award of exploration contracts has been controversial
International: Sao Tome and Nigeria share offshore oil fields which have yet to be exploited. Nigeria intervened to prevent a coup in 2003
From the late 1400s Portugal began settling convicts on Sao Tome and establishing sugar plantations with the help of slaves from the mainland. The island was also important in the transshipment of slaves.
The colony's aspirations for independence were recognised after the 1974 coup in Portugal and at first the Movement for the Liberation of Sao Tome and Principe was the country's sole political party. However, the 1990 constitution created a multi-party democracy. The island of Principe assumed autonomy in 1995.
Sao Tome and Principe is trying to shake off its dependence on the cocoa crop. Falls in production and prices left the island state heavily reliant on foreign aid. The government has been encouraging economic diversification and is set to exploit the billions of barrels of oil which are thought to lie off the country's coast.
Drilling is under way and commercial production is expected to begin within a few years.
Promoters of tourism say the islands have plenty for visitors to see. But hurdles include ignorance about the country, the difficulties of getting there, and what some say is an exaggerated fear of malaria.
Evaristo Cumbane used to work for Radio Mozambique
