Madagascar is the world's fourth biggest island after Greenland, New Guinea and Borneo. Because of its isolation most of its mammals, half its birds, and most of its plants exist nowhere else on earth.

The island is heavily exposed to tropical cyclones which bring torrential rains and destructive floods, such as the ones in 2000 and 2004, which left thousands homeless.

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The Malagasy are thought to be descendants of Africans and Indonesians who settled on the island more than 2,000 years ago. Malagasy pay a lot of attention to their dead and spend much effort on ancestral tombs, which are opened from time to time so the remains can be carried in procession, before being rewrapped in fresh shrouds.

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At a glance

Politics: In January 2009 political unrest erupted into violence. President Ravalomanana resigned in March following a fierce power struggle with opposition leader Andry Rajoelina, who then assumed power with military backing.

Economy: Many areas suffer food shortages. Madagascar stands to benefit from a G8 pledge to write off the debts of 18 poor countries.

International: African Union suspended Madagascar and EU froze aid after the 2009 coup.

After sometimes harsh French colonial rule, which included the bloody suppression of an uprising in 1947, Madagascar gained independence in 1960. The military seized power in the early 1970s with the aim of achieving a socialist paradise.

This did not materialise. The economy went into decline and by 1982 the authorities were forced to adopt a structural adjustment programme imposed by the International Monetary Fund.

The World Bank has estimated that 70% of Malagasy live on less than $1 per day. Poverty and the competition for agricultural land have put pressure on the island's dwindling forests, home to much of Madagascar's unique wildlife and key to its emerging tourist industry.

The island has strong ties with France as well as economic and cultural links with French-speaking West Africa.

However, Andry Rajoelina's seizure of power in 2009 left the country isolated by the international community and deprived of foreign aid.

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Controlling access to the Red Sea, Djibouti is of major strategic importance, a fact that has ensured a steady flow of foreign assistance.

During the Gulf War it was the base of operations for the French military, who continue to maintain a significant presence.

France has thousands of troops as well as warships, aircraft and armoured vehicles in Djibouti, contributing directly and indirectly to the country's income. The US has stationed hundreds of troops in Djibouti, its only African base, in an effort to counter terrorism in the region.

The Port of Djibouti on the Red Sea is the main shipping terminal for the Horn of Africa

Djibouti's location is the main economic asset of a country that is mostly barren. The capital, Djibouti city, handles Ethiopian imports and exports. Its transport facilities are used by several landlocked African countries to fly in their goods for re-export. This earns Djibouti much-needed transit taxes and harbour fees.

An Afar nomad transports salt across Lake Assal, one of Djibouti's vast, barren landscapes

After independence from France in 1977, Djibouti was left with a government which enjoyed a balance between the two main ethnic groups, the Issa of Somali origin and the Afar of Ethiopian origin.

But the country's first president, Hassan Gouled Aptidon, installed an authoritarian one-party state dominated by his own Issa community. Afar resentment erupted into a civil war in the early 1990s, and though Mr Gouled, under French pressure, introduced a limited multi-party system in 1992, the rebels from the Afar party, the Front for the Restoration of Unity and Democracy (Frud), were excluded.

Thus, Mr Gouled's Popular Rally for Progress party won every seat and the war went on. It ended in 1994 with a power-sharing deal which brought the main faction of Frud into government. A splinter, radical faction continued to fight until 2000, when it too signed a peace deal with the government of Gouled's successor, Ismael Omar Guelleh.

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Malawi, a largely agricultural country, is making efforts to overcome decades of underdevelopment and the more recent impact of a growing HIV-Aids problem.

For the first 30 years of independence it was run by the authoritarian and quixotic President Hastings Kamuzu Banda, but democratic institutions have taken a firm hold since he relinquished power in the mid-1990s.

After President Banda lost the first democratic presidential election in 1994 his successor, Bakili Muluzi, established a far more open form of government. Corruption, poverty and the high rate of HIV-Aids continued to hamper development and fostered discontent with the new authorities.

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At a glance

Politics: Turbulent politics hampered governance

Economy: More than half the population lives below the poverty line. Moves are under way to exploit uranium reserves to boost meagre export earnings

International: Until January 2008, Malawi was one of only six African countries to maintain diplomatic ties with Taiwan rather than China

Profiles compiled by BBC Monitoring

Most Malawians rely on subsistence farming, but the food supply situation is precarious and the country is prone to natural disasters of both extremes – from drought to heavy rainfalls – putting it in constant need of thousands of tonnes of food aid every year.

Malawi has been urged by world financial bodies to free up its economy, and has it has privatised many loss-making state-run corporations.

Since 2007 the country has made real progress in achieving economic growth as part of programmes instituted by the government of President Mutharika in 2005. Healthcare, education and environmental conditions have improved, and Malawi has started to move away from reliance on overseas aid.

Its single major natural resource, agricultural land is under severe pressure from rapid population growth, although the government's programme of fertilizer subsidies has dramatically boosted output in recent years, making Malawi a net food exporter.

Tens of thousands of Malawians die of Aids every year. After years of silence, the authorities spoke out about the crisis. A programme to tackle HIV-Aids was launched in 2004, with President Muluzi revealing that his brother had died from the disease.

Many Malawians depend on subsistence agriculture but the land is under pressure from population growth

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A rising number of children now need medical treatment in Niger, the charity warns

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In pictures: Famine-beating farming in Niger

Months of warnings have failed to prevent a serious malnutrition crisis in Niger, Save the Children has said.

The charity says more than six million people are affected there, and about 18 million in the Sahel region.

It says a rising number of children now need medical treatment for the condition, as the crisis is reaching a new level of seriousness.

Save the Children's warning comes as this weekend's G8 meeting is expected to discuss food security.

The charity says it is now moving to an emergency response.

Alarm bells have been ringing about Niger – with its record of severe food crises – since late last year after erratic rainfall threatened crop shortages and food prices also soared, the BBC's Mike Wooldridge says.

Aid organisations have been trying to mitigate the impact.

Overall, 25% of the world's children are suffering from chronic malnutrition – over and above the current food emergencies in Africa, Save the Children says.

It has expressed its concern that G8 leaders will shy away from making bold commitments to ensure not only that children have enough to eat, but also the right kind of food and nutrition.

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Once hailed as a potential model for African development, Guinea-Bissau is now one of the poorest countries in the world.

It has a massive foreign debt and an economy which relies heavily on foreign aid.

Compounding this, the country experienced a bitter civil war in the late 1990s in which thousands were killed, wounded and displaced.

Formerly Portuguese Guinea, Guinea-Bissau won independence from Portugal in 1974 after a long struggle spearheaded by the left-wing African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC). For the next six years post-independence leader Luis Cabral presided over a command economy.

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At a glance

Politics: This former Portuguese colony has suffered a civil war and several coups, the latest one being in April 2012

Economy: Political instability and mismanagement have undermined the economy. Country is dependent on primary crops – mainly cashew nuts – and subsistence agriculture. Government often struggles to pay wages.

International: Country has become transhipment point for Latin American drugs; army clashed with Senegal's Casamance separatists in 2006

Country profiles compiled by BBC Monitoring

In 1980 he was overthrown by his army chief, Joao Vieira, who accused him of corruption and mismanagement. Mr Vieira led the country towards a market economy and a multi-party system, but was accused of crony capitalism, corruption and autocracy. In 1994 he was chosen as president in Guinea-Bissau's first free elections.

Four years later he was ousted after he dismissed his army chief, thereby triggering a crippling civil war. This eventually ended after foreign mediation led to a truce, policed by West African peacekeepers, and free elections in January 2000.

The victor in the poll, Kumba Yala, was ousted in a bloodless military coup in September 2003. The military chief who led the coup said the move was, in part, a response to the worsening economic and political situation.

Mr Vieira won the 2005 elections but his rule was brought to a bloody end in March 2009, when renegade soldiers entered his palace and shot him dead, reportedly to avenge the killing hours earlier of the army chief, a rival of the president.

The country's vital cashew nut crop provides a modest living for most of Guinea-Bissau's farmers and is the main source of foreign exchange.

Guinea-Bissau is also a major hub for cocaine smuggled from Latin America to Europe. Several senior military figures are alleged to be involved in the trafficking of narcotics, prompting fears that the drugs trade could further destabilise an already volatile country.

Guinea-Bissau's parliament in the capital Bissau

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Guinea-Bissau profile

The first wave of a West African peacekeeping force has landed in Guinea-Bissau to help bring stability after last month's coup.

Some 70 soldiers from Burkina Faso are part of a planned deployment by regional bloc Ecowas.

A total of about 600 troops is expected over the coming days, according to an Ecowas statement.

Guinea-Bissau was just weeks away from holding a presidential run-off vote when a military junta took over.

Drug trafficking

The Ecowas soldiers arrived on the same day as the prime minister of a transitional government, Rui Duarte Barros, was sworn into office.

The coup leaders had earlier agreed to a 12-month transition to civilian rule, as demanded by Ecowas.

The Ecowas peacekeepers are being deployed to “relieve the Angolan military personnel… and support the restoration of constitutional rule,” its statement said.

About 200 Angolan officers have been in the country for the last year to help with training and reforms to the bloated army, which has long meddled in politics and is said by Western intelligence agencies to play a key part in trafficking drugs.

The soldiers who staged last month's revolt said the Angolan force was conspiring with Guinea-Bissau's government to “wipe out” the army.

No elected leader in nearly 40 years of independence has finished their time in office in Guinea-Bissau, which has now become a major staging post for gangs smuggling cocaine from Latin America to Europe.

The tiny West African nation is one of the world's poorest countries – with almost 70% of people living in poverty – and it is heavily dependent on foreign assistance.

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A poor country even by West African standards, landlocked Burkina Faso has suffered from recurring droughts and, until the 1980s, military coups.

Burkina Faso has significant reserves of gold, but cotton is the economic mainstay for many Burkinabes. This industry is vulnerable to changes in world prices.

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At a glance

Politics: Coup leader Blaise Compaore won a new five-year term in 2010 after 23 years at the helm

Economy: The UN rates Burkina Faso as the world's third poorest country

International: Burkina Faso has been involved in the various conflicts of the region. Many citizens who had traditionally worked in Ivory Coast fled after recent instability there

Country profiles compiled by BBC Monitoring

A major challenge to the status quo came in 1983, when Capt Thomas Sankara seized power and adopted radical left-wing policies. He renamed the country, previously Upper Volta. Its present name which translates as “land of honest men”.

In 1987 Mr Sankara was overthrown and killed in a coup by his erstwhile colleague Blaise Compaore, who went on to re-introduce a multi-party system.

Burkina Faso has faced domestic and external concern over the state of its economy and human rights, and allegations that it was involved in the smuggling of diamonds by rebels in Sierra Leone.

Troubles in neighbouring Ivory Coast have raised tensions, with Ivory Coast accusing its northern neighbour of backing rebels in the north and Burkina Faso accusing Ivory Coast of mistreating expatriate Burkinabes.

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