Congo – New African Diva Meje & Tshala Muana – Deux Saisons in HD
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The ICC issued its arrest warrant for Gen Ntaganda six years ago
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DR Congo Seeks Democracy
Fleeing the 'Terminator'
No end to the tears
Kabila victory questioned
Profile: Joseph Kabila
The International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor has said he is hopeful that a Congolese warlord will be arrested within weeks.
Bosco Ntaganda is wanted on charges of committing crimes against humanity.
Luis Moreno-Ocampo told the BBC that DR Congo and Rwanda both now believed that Gen Ntaganda should be arrested and his position was therefore “fragile”.
Earlier, the UN said fighting in DR Congo had forced tens of thousands to flee into neighbouring states.
The head of the UN's humanitarian agency, Antonio Guterres, said an upsurge in fighting between the army and mutineers loyal to Gen Ntaganda had caused “disastrous” displacement within DR Congo and “now people in need are appearing in neighbouring countries too”.
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The Terminator at a glance
Born in 1973
Fled to DR Congo as a teenager after attacks on ethnic Tutsis
At 17, he began his fighting days – alternating between being a rebel and a soldier, in both Rwanda and DR Congo
Indicted in 2006 by the ICC for allegedly recruiting child soldiers
In charge of troops that carried out the 2008 Kiwanji massacre
Integrated in 2009 into the Congolese army and made a general
In 2012, he appears to have deserted the army
Full profile
Some 30,000 Congolese refugees have passed into Uganda to escape fresh fighting that erupted on 10 May, the UNHCR quoted Ugandan officials as saying, while more than 8,000 Congolese have been registered in Rwanda since 27 April.
‘Common understanding’
Mr Moreno-Ocampo said there was now a greater consensus about Gen Ntaganda's alleged crimes than when the ICC first issued a warrant for his arrest in 2006 on charges of recruiting child soldiers.
“My role as the prosecutor is to keep making the legal point and now there is more consensus that he should be arrested and therefore probably will be arrested,” he said.
He said the primary responsibility for detaining the warlord lay with the Congolese army and that it could request UN and Rwandan support.
“I hope it is weeks,” Mr Moreno-Ocampo said of Gen Ntaganda's arrest.
“I think he is in a fragile situation now and I think there is a common understanding that he should be arrested and then I think he will be.”
Two days ago Mr Moreno-Ocampo said he was seeking to issue a warrant for the arrest of rebel leader Sylvestre Mudacumura and wanted to add fresh charges to that out for Gen Ntaganda.
Gen Ntaganda denies masterminding a mutiny by former members of the CNDP rebel group, whose fighters were integrated into the Congolese army as part of a peace deal three years ago.
The Congolese government has until now refused to hand over Gen Ntaganda, saying that it now wants to put him on trial in the country for his role in fighting that broke out in late April in the North Kivu region between soldiers loyal to him and former CNDP rebels.
Eritrea emerged from its long war of independence in 1993 only to plunge once again into military conflict, first with Yemen and then, more devastatingly, with its old adversary, Ethiopia.
Today, a fragile peace prevails and Eritrea faces the gigantic tasks of rebuilding its infrastructure and of developing its economy after more than 30 years of fighting.
A former Italian colony, Eritrea was occupied by the British in 1941. In 1952 the United Nations resolved to establish it as an autonomous entity federated with Ethiopia as a compromise between Ethiopian claims for sovereignty and Eritrean aspirations for independence. However, 10 years later the Ethiopian emperor, Haile Selassie, decided to annex it, triggering a 32-year armed struggle.
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At a glance
Politics: The government has been accused of repression and of hindering the development of democracy
Economy: Eritrea is said to be on the brink of a mining boom; it is heavily dependent on earnings of the diaspora
International: Eritrea and Ethiopia remain in dispute after their 1998-2000 border war; in 2009 the UN imposed sanctions on Eritrea after accusing it of backing anti-Ethiopian Islamist insurgents in Somalia
Country profiles compiled by BBC Monitoring
This culminated in independence after an alliance of the Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF) and a coalition of Ethiopian resistance movements defeated Haile Selassie's communist successor, Mengistu Haile Mariam.
In 1993, in a referendum supported by Ethiopia, Eritreans voted almost unanimously for independence, leaving Ethiopia landlocked.
The two countries hardly became good neighbours, with the issues of Ethiopian access to the Eritrean ports of Massawa and Assab and unequal trade terms souring relations.
In 1998 border disputes around the town of Badme erupted into open hostilities. This conflict ended with a peace deal in June 2000, but not before leaving both sides with tens of thousands of soldiers dead. A security zone separates the two countries. The UN patrolled the zone at one time but pulled out, unable to fulfil its mandate.
The unresolved border issue compounds other pressing problems. These include Eritrea's inability to provide enough food; two thirds of the population receive food aid. Moreover, economic progress is hampered by the proportion of Eritreans who are in the army rather than the workforce.
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Somaliland profile
Somaliland hopes for international recognition
A military court in Hargeisa, the capital of the self-proclaimed Somaliland, has sentenced 17 civilians to death for attacking a military base.
The death penalties were handed down the day after the attack in which seven people were killed, a Somaliland official told the BBC.
An armed group carried out the attack, claiming the military had built on land that they had owned for generations.
Somaliland has escaped much of the violence that plagues Somalia.
Swift case
A group of almost 30 armed civilians belonging to the same clan attacked soldiers in the camp on Tuesday, leading to a firefight in which three soldiers were killed, Somaliland's Defence Minister Ahmed Haji Ali told the BBC's Somali service.
After being arrested, 28 people were held overnight – and the military trial held the following day.
Five minors were also given life sentences, after seven people – including three soldiers – were killed, a Somaliland official told the BBC.
Three people were acquitted, and the trial of three others postponed because they had been injured during the fighting.
The civilians had confessed and an attack on Somaliland's military carries a mandatory death penalty for adults, the chairman of the military court, Yusuf Farah, told the BBC.
The BBC's Mohamed Mohamed says activists in Somaliland are likely to raise questions about the swiftness of the case – and whether the civilians had been properly represented.
If the death penalties are carried out, there could be a backlash from other members of the clan involved and they may even resort to violence, our correspondent says.
Land disputes are common and often complex in Somaliland, he adds.
Somaliland unilaterally declared independence in 1991 after the overthrow of Somali military dictator Siad Barre.
It is relatively stable and holds regular elections, which have seen peaceful transfers of power.
Equatorial Guinea is a small country off West Africa which has recently struck oil and which is now being cited as a textbook case of the resource curse – or the paradox of plenty.
Since the mid 1990s the former Spanish colony has become one of sub-Sahara's biggest oil producers and in 2004 was said to have the world's fastest-growing economy.
However, few people have benefited from the oil riches and the country ranks near the bottom of the UN human development index. The UN says that less than half the population has access to clean drinking water and that 20 percent of children die before reaching five.
The country has exasperated a variety of rights organisations who have described the two post-independence leaders as among the worst abusers of human rights in Africa.
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At a glance
Politics: President Obiang seized power in 1979; rights groups have condemned his rule as one Africa's most brutal; he faces a “government in exile” and a separatist movement
Economy: Equatorial Guinea is sub-Saharan Africa's third biggest oil producer. Oil earnings are allegedly stolen by the ruling elite
International: Equatorial Guinea and Gabon are in dispute over islands in potentially oil-rich off-shore waters
Country profiles compiled by BBC Monitoring
Francisco Macias Nguema's reign of terror – from independence in 1968 until his overthrow in 1979 – prompted a third of the population to flee. Apart from allegedly committing genocide against the Bubi ethnic minority, he ordered the death of thousands of suspected opponents, closed down churches and presided over the economy's collapse.
His successor – Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo – took over in a coup and has shown little tolerance for opposition during the three decades of his rule. While the country is nominally a multiparty democracy, elections have generally been considered a sham.
According to Human Rights Watch, the ''dictatorship under President Obiang has used an oil boom to entrench and enrich itself further at the expense of the country's people''.
The corruption watchdog Transparency International has put Equatorial Guinea in the top 12 of its list of most corrupt states. Resisting calls for more transparency, President Obiang has for long held that oil revenues are a state secret. In 2008 the country became a candidate of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative – an international project meant to promote openness about government oil revenues – but failed to qualify by an April 2010 deadline.
A 2004 US Senate investigation into the Washington-based Riggs Bank found that President Obiang's family had received huge payments from US oil companies such as Exxon Mobil and Amerada Hess.
Observers say the US finds it hard to criticise a country which is seen as an ally in a volatile, oil-rich region. In 2006, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice hailed President Obiang as a “good friend” despite repeated criticism of his human rights and civil liberties record by her own department. More recently President Barack Obama posed for an official photograph with President Obiang at a New York reception.
The advocacy group Global Witness has been lobbying the United States to act against the President Obiang's son Teodor, a government minister. It says there is credible evidence that he spent millions buying a Malibu mansion and private jet using corruptly acquired funds – grounds for denying him a visa.
Equatorial Guinea hit the headlines in 2004 when a plane load of suspected mercenaries was intercepted in Zimbabwe while allegedly on the way to overthrow President Obiang.
U.S. Africa Command C4ISR Senior Leaders Conference, Vicenza, Italy, February 2011
Image by US Army Africa
Guests chat at an informal get-together Feb. 1 in advance of the opening of the second annual U.S. Africa Command C4ISR Senior Leaders Conference in Vicenza, Italy.
U.S. Army Africa photos by David Ruderman
U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) hosted its second annual C4ISR Senior Leaders Conference Feb. 2-4 at Caserma Ederle, headquarters of U.S. Army Africa, in Vicenza, Italy.
The communications and intelligence community event, hosted by Brig. Gen. Robert Ferrell, AFRICOM C4 director, drew approximately 80 senior leaders from diverse U.S. military and government branches and agencies, as well as representatives of African nations and the African Union.
“The conference is a combination of our U.S. AFRICOM C4 systems and intel directorate,” said Ferrell. “We come together annually to bring the team together to work on common goals to work on throughout the year. The team consists of our coalition partners as well as our inter-agency partners, as well as our components and U.S. AFRICOM staff.”
The conference focused on updates from participants, and on assessing the present state and goals of coalition partners in Africa, he said.
“The theme for our conference is ‘Delivering Capabilities to a Joint Information Environment,’ and we see it as a joint and combined team … working together, side by side, to promote peace and stability there on the African continent,” Ferrell said.
Three goals of this year’s conference were to strengthen the team, assess priorities across the board, and get a better fix on the impact that the establishment of the U.S. Cyber Command will have on all members’ efforts in the future, he said.
“With the stand-up of U.S. Cyber Command, it brings a lot of unique challenges that we as a team need to talk through to ensure that our information is protected at all times,” Ferrell said.
African Union (AU) representatives from four broad geographic regions of Africa attended, which generated a holistic perspective on needs and requirements from across the continent, he said.
“We have members from the African Union headquarters that is located in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; we have members that are from Uganda; from Zambia; from Ghana; and also from the Congo. What are the gaps, what are the things that we kind of need to assist with as we move forward on our engagements on the African continent?” Ferrell said.
U.S. Army Africa Commander, Maj. Gen. David R. Hogg, welcomed participants as the conference got under way.
“We’re absolutely delighted to be the host for this conference, and we hope that this week you get a whole lot out of it,” said Hogg.
He took the opportunity to address the participants not only as their host, but from the perspective of a customer whose missions depend on the results of their efforts to support commanders in the field.
“When we’re talking about this group of folks that are here — from the joint side, from our African partners, from State, all those folks — it’s about partnership and interoperability. And every commander who’s ever had to fight in a combined environment understands that interoperability is the thing that absolutely slaps you upside the head,” Hogg said.
“We’re in the early stages of the process here of working with the African Union and the other partners, and you have an opportunity to design this from the end state, versus just building a bunch of ‘gunkulators.’ And so, the message is: think about what the end state is supposed to look like and construct the strategy to support the end state.
“Look at where we want to be at and design it that way,” Hogg said.
He also admonished participants to consider the second- and third-order effects of their choices in designing networks.
“With that said, over the next four days, I hope this conference works very well for you. If there’s anything we can do to make your stay better, please let us know,” Hogg said.
Over the following three days, participants engaged in a steady stream of briefings and presentations focused on systems, missions and updates from the field.
Col. Joseph W. Angyal, director of U.S. Army Africa G-6, gave an overview of operations and issues that focused on fundamentals, the emergence of regional accords as a way forward, and the evolution of a joint network enterprise that would serve all interested parties.
“What we’re trying to do is to work regionally. That’s frankly a challenge, but as we stand up the capability, really for the U.S. government, and work through that, we hope to become more regionally focused,” he said.
He referred to Africa Endeavor, an annual, multi-nation communications exercise, as a test bed for the current state of affairs on the continent, and an aid in itself to future development.
“In order to conduct those exercises, to conduct those security and cooperation events, and to meet contingency missions, we really, from the C4ISR perspective, have five big challenges,” Angyal said.
“You heard General Hogg this morning talk about ‘think about the customer’ — you’ve got to allow me to be able to get access to our data; I’ve got to be able to get to the data where and when I need it; you’ve got to be able to protect it; I have to be able to share it; and then finally, the systems have to be able to work together in order to build that coalition.
“One of the reasons General Ferrell is setting up this joint information enterprise, this joint network enterprise . . . it’s almost like trying to bring together disparate companies or corporations: everyone has their own system, they’ve paid for their own infrastructure, and they have their own policy, even though they support the same major company.
“Now multiply that when you bring in different services, multiply that when you bring in different U.S. government agencies, and then put a layer on top of that with the international partners, and there are lots of policies that are standing in our way.”
The main issue is not a question of technology, he said.
“The boxes are the same — a Cisco router is a Cisco router; Microsoft Exchange server is the same all over the world — but it’s the way that we employ them, and it’s the policies that we apply to it, that really stops us from interoperating, and that’s the challenge we hope to work through with the joint network enterprise.
“And I think that through things like Africa Endeavor and through the joint enterprise network, we’re looking at knocking down some of those policy walls, but at the end of the day they are ours to knock down. Bill Gates did not design a system to work only for the Army or for the Navy — it works for everyone,” Angyal said.
Brig. Gen. Joseph Searyoh, director general of Defense Information Communication Systems, General Headquarters, Ghana Armed Forces, agreed that coordinating policy is fundamental to improving communications with all its implications for a host of operations and missions.
“One would expect that in these modern times there is some kind of mutual engagement, and to build that engagement to be strong, there must be some kind of element of trust. … We have to build some kind of trust to be able to move forward,” said Searyoh.
“Some people may be living in silos of the past, but in the current engagement we need to tell people that we are there with no hidden agenda, no negative hidden agenda, but for the common good of all of us.
“We say that we are in the information age, and I’ve been saying something: that our response should not be optional, but it must be a must, because if you don’t join now, you are going to be left behind.
“So what do we do? We have to get our house in order.
“Why do I say so? We used to operate like this before the information age; now in the information age, how do we operate?
“So, we have to get our house in order and see whether we are aligning ourselves with way things should work now. So, our challenge is to come up with a strategy, see how best we can reorganize our structures, to be able to deliver communications-information systems support for the Ghana Armed Forces,” he said.
Searyoh related that his organization has already accomplished one part of erecting the necessary foundation by establishing an appropriate policy structure.
“What is required now is the implementing level. Currently we have communications on one side, and computers on one side. The lines are blurred — you cannot operate like that, you’ve got to bring them together,” he said.
Building that merged entity to support deployed forces is what he sees as the primary challenge at present.
“Once you get that done you can talk about equipment, you can talk about resources,” Searyoh said. “I look at the current collaboration between the U.S. and the coalition partners taking a new level.”
“The immediate challenges that we have is the interoperability, which I think is one of the things we are also discussing here, interoperability and integration,” said Lt. Col. Kelvin Silomba, African Union-Zambia, Information Technology expert for the Africa Stand-by Force.
“You know that we’ve got five regions in Africa. All these regions, we need to integrate them and bring them together, so the challenge of interoperability in terms of equipment, you know, different tactical equipment that we use, and also in terms of the language barrier — you know, all these regions in Africa you find that they speak different languages — so to bring them together we need to come up with one standard that will make everybody on board and make everybody able to talk to each other,” he said.
“So we have all these challenges. Other than that also, stemming from the background of these African countries, based on the colonization: some of them were French colonized, some of them were British colonized and so on, so you find that when they come up now we’ve adopted some of the procedures based on our former colonial masters, so that is another challenge that is coming on board.”
The partnership with brother African states, with the U.S. government and its military branches, and with other interested collaborators has had a positive influence, said Silomba.
“Oh, it’s great. From the time that I got engaged with U.S. AFRICOM — I started with Africa Endeavor, before I even came to the AU — it is my experience that it is something very, very good.
“I would encourage — I know that there are some member states — I would encourage that all those member states they come on board, all of these regional organizations, that they come on board and support the AFRICOM lead. It is something that is very, very good.
“As for example, the African Union has a lot of support that’s been coming in, technical as well as in terms of knowledge and equipment. So it’s great; it’s good and it’s great,” said Salimba.
Other participant responses to the conference were positive as well.
“The feedback I’ve gotten from every member is that they now know what the red carpet treatment looks like, because USARAF has gone over and above board to make sure the environment, the atmosphere and the actual engagements … are executed to perfection,” said Ferrell. “It’s been very good from a team-building aspect.
“We’ve had very good discussions from members of the African Union, who gave us a very good understanding of the operations that are taking place in the area of Somalia, the challenges with communications, and laid out the gaps and desires of where they see that the U.S. and other coalition partners can kind of improve the capacity there in that area of responsibility.
“We also talked about the AU, as they are expanding their reach to all of the five regions, of how can they have that interoperability and connectivity to each of the regions,” Ferrell said.
“(It’s been) a wealth of knowledge and experts that are here to share in terms of how we can move forward with building capacities and capabilities. Not only for U.S. interests, but more importantly from my perspective, in building capacities and capabilities for our African partners beginning with the Commission at the African Union itself,” said Kevin Warthon, U.S. State Department, peace and security adviser to the African Union.
“I think that General Ferrell has done an absolutely wonderful thing by inviting key African partners to participate in this event so they can share their personal experience from a national, regional and continental perspective,” he said.
Warthon related from his personal experience a vignette of African trust in Providence that he believed carries a pertinent metaphor and message to everyone attending the conference.
“We are not sure what we are going to do tomorrow, but the one thing that I am sure of is that we are able to do something. Don’t know when, don’t know how, but as long as our focus is on our ability to assist and to help to progress a people, that’s really what counts more than anything else,” he said.
“Don’t worry about the timetable; just focus on your ability to make a difference and that’s what that really is all about.
“I see venues such as this as opportunities to make what seems to be the impossible become possible. … This is what this kind of venue does for our African partners.
“We’re doing a wonderful job at building relationships, because that’s where it begins — we have to build relationships to establish trust. That’s why this is so important: building trust through relationships so that we can move forward in the future,” Warthon said.
Conference members took a cultural tour of Venice and visited a traditional winery in the hills above Vicenza before adjourning.
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Libya Crisis
Divisive bid
Dangers lurk
Should Sirte be rebuilt?
War victims' care scandal
Seven people have been killed and more than 20 injured in clashes in Libya's western desert town of Ghadames, the government says.
Government spokesman Nasser el-Maneaa blamed an “armed group from outside the town” for the violence.
He added that the army had been sent to Ghadames and the situation was now under control.
Unconfirmed reports say the clashes were between town residents and Tuareg tribesmen – nomads who roam the desert.
The fighting erupted over control of a checkpoint on the edge of the town – on a route often used for smuggling, local officials were quoted as saying by Reuters.
Libya's interim government is struggling to control the vast country with numerous tribal groups after former leader Col Muammar Gaddafi was ousted in the uprising last year.
Many Tuaregs supported the late leader during the fighting.
Algeria, a gateway between Africa and Europe, has been battered by violence over the past half-century.
More than a million Algerians were killed in the fight for independence from France in 1962, and the country has recently emerged from a brutal internal conflict that followed scrapped elections in 1992.
The Sahara desert covers more than four-fifths of the land. Oil and gas reserves were discovered here in the 1950s, but most Algerians live along the northern coast. The country supplies large amounts of natural gas to Europe and energy exports are the backbone of the economy.
Algeria was originally inhabited by Berbers until the Arabs conquered North Africa in the 7th century. Staying mainly in the mountainous regions, the Berbers resisted the spreading Arab influence, managing to preserve much of their language and culture. They make up some 30% of the population.
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At a glance
Politics: President Bouteflika led his country out of the civil war that broke out when Islamists were denied an election victory; since the 1990s, the Islamist insurgency has been replaced by Al-Qaeda-inspired militants carrying out a deadly bombing campaign
Economy: Algeria is a key oil and gas supplier
International: Tension persists between Algeria and Morocco over the Western Sahara, where nomadic Saharans are seeking self-determination
Country profiles compiled by BBC Monitoring
Part of the Turkish Ottoman empire from the 16th century, Algeria was conquered by the French in 1830 and was given the status of a “departement”. The struggle for independence began in 1954 headed by the National Liberation Front, which came to power on independence in 1962.
In the 1990s Algerian politics was dominated by the struggle involving the military and Islamist militants. In 1992 a general election won by an Islamist party was annulled, heralding a bloody civil war in which more than 150,000 people were slaughtered.
An amnesty in 1999 led many rebels to lay down their arms.
Although political violence in Algeria has declined since the 1990s, the country has been shaken by by a campaign of bombings carried out by a group calling itself Al-Qaeda in the Land of Islamic Maghreb (AQLIM).
The group was formerly known as the Salafist Group for Call and Combat, and has its roots in an Islamist militia involved in the civil war in the 1990s.
Although experts doubt whether AQLIM has direct operational links with Osama Bin-Laden, its methods – which include suicide bombings – and its choice of targets, such as foreign workers and the UN headquarters in Algiers, are thought to be inspired by Al-Qaeda. North African governments fear that local Islamist groups in Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia may be linking up under the umbrella of the new movement.
After years of political upheaval and violence, Algeria's economy has been given a lift by frequent oil and gas finds. It has estimated oil reserves of nearly 12 billion barrels, attracting strong interest from foreign oil firms.
However, poverty remains widespread and unemployment high, particularly among Algeria's youth. Endemic government corruption and poor standards in public services are also chronic sources of popular dissatisfaction.
Major protests broke out in January 2011 over food prices and unemployment, with two people being killed in clashes with security forces. The government responded by ordering cuts to the price of basic foodstuffs, and repealed the 1992 state of emergency law.
In 2001 the government agreed to a series of demands by the minority Berbers, including official recognition of their language, after months of unrest involving Berber youths demanding greater cultural and political recognition.
A pool of blood marked the entrance to the Bella Vista club
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Border grenade attacks in Kenya
Q&A: Who are Somalia's al-Shabab?
Grenade attack on Kenya nightclub
A man has been arrested on suspicion of helping to carry out an attack on a nightclub in the Kenyan port city of Mombasa, police have said.
He was one of five people injured after explosive devices were thrown into the popular club.
Armed men lobbed what are thought to be grenades – after they were denied entry to the club for refusing to be frisked by security guards.
No-one has claimed responsibility, and a gun was found at the scene.
Ammunition in luggage
“The suspect is one of those injured. He is now under police guard,” said police chief Mathew Iteere in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, adding that the police had been watching the suspect for some time “in connection with various other attacks”.
He was hit by shrapnel from a grenade and taken to the hospital with other people injured during the attack, Mr Iteere said.
The man had booked a bus ticket for Nairobi to leave Mombasa soon after the attack late on Tuesday night, he said.
“We have retrieved a bus ticket from him and when our officers went to the bus station they found his luggage which had a magazine loaded with eight rounds of ammunition,” Mr Iteere said.
The Bella Vista club is on a street known for its night life in Mombasa – a popular holiday destination for both Kenyans and foreigners.
A pool of blood marked the entrance to the club, and spent cartridges and grenade shells were strewn near its gate, reported Reuters news agency.
Regional police chief Aggrey Adoli told the AFP news agency that armed men tried to barge their way into the club but were barred by security guards.
They then fired off shots from their guns, critically injuring a guard, before throwing in explosive devices, he said.
Ambrose Munyasia, the region's top criminal investigation officer who was at the scene, told Reuters the evidence suggested three grenades had been thrown.
Another security guard, a woman, later died in hospital, police said.
Kenya has seen several hit-and-run grenade attacks in recent months in the capital, Nairobi, and in northern Kenya.
The Kenyan authorities often blame such attacks on al-Qaeda-affiliated al-Shabab rebels from neighbouring Somalia.
Kenya sent hundreds of troops into Somalia last year after a wave of kidnappings, including those of four Europeans on Kenyan soil, blamed on al-Shabab.
Benin, formerly known as Dahomey, is one of Africa's most stable democracies.
It boasts a proliferation of political parties and a strong civil society.
On the economic side, however, the picture is less bright – Benin is severely underdeveloped, and corruption is rife.
Benin's shore includes what used to be known as the Slave Coast, from where captives were shipped across the Atlantic. Elements of the culture and religion brought by slaves from the area are still present in the Americas, including voodoo.
Once banned in Benin, the religion is celebrated at the country's annual Voodoo Day, which draws thousands of celebrants.
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At a glance
Politics: President Yayi won elections in 2006, replacing Mathieu Kerekou, who was in office for most of the time since he seized power in 1972
Economy: Benin to benefit from G8 commitment to write off debt. It is pressing Western cotton producing countries to compete more fairly by cutting subsidies to their farmers
International: Thousands of Togolese refugees have yet to return home
Country profiles compiled by BBC Monitoring
Before being colonised by France towards the end of the 1800s, the area comprised several independent states, including the Kingdom of Dahomey, which had a well-trained standing army and was geared towards the export of slaves and later palm oil.
Instability marked the first years after full independence from France in 1960 and the early part of Mr Kerekou's rule featured Marxism-Leninism as the official ideology.
However, during the 1980s Mr Kerekou resigned from the army to become a civilian head of state and liberalised the economy.
While Benin has seen economic growth over the past few years and is one of Africa's largest cotton producers, it ranks among the world's poorest countries. The economy relies heavily on trade with its eastern neighbour, Nigeria.
To the north, there have been sporadic clashes along Benin's border with Burkina Faso. The trouble has been blamed on land disputes between rival communities on either side of the border.
Thousands of Togolese refugees fled to Benin in 2005 following political unrest in their homeland. Benin called for international aid to help it shelter and feed the exiles.