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Although some of Nigeria’s insecurity is intersecting, analysts frequently highlight four particular areas of chronic conflict.

Nigeria’s chronic security crises show no signs of abating, with the state battling insurgents and banditry on at least four fronts. Although the military has had some success in tackling Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province (Iswap) insurgents in the north-east and militia in the north-west, the wider security situation remains extremely difficult.

There was confirmation of the depth of Ghana’s debt problems when the Ministry of Finance on 19 December halted service payments on most of its international debt and said it would seek “an orderly restructuring of the affected obligations”.

Elections in February will set the direction for Africa’s most populous country for the next five years, with the likelihood that a ‘business as usual’ candidate will win. As security and economic crises pose ever more challenges, it would be a good time for Nigeria to unleash its more positive forces to avoid an even worse malaise, write Jon Marks, Marc Howard and Adaora Elemide.

Outsiders have found it extremely difficult to gain details of the Chadian transitional government’s deliberations over oil and much else in a system forged in the late Idriss Déby Itno’s image and the politics of his ruling, but minority Zaghawa clan.

Amidst political instability and heightened tensions with France, Mali has commissioned the  140MW Gouina hydroelectric power project, spurring transitional premier Colonel Abdoulaye Maïga to encourage more effort towards completing other OMVS projects.

Israel’s NewMed Energy and Moroccan privately-held Adarco Energy have signed a deal with the state Office National des Hydrocarbures et des Mines (Onhym) to carry out oil and gas exploration in the offshore Boujdour Atlantique licence area, in waters that form part of the disputed Western Sahara.

A failed coup attempt on 25 November has raised fresh questions about São Tomé e Príncipe’s (STP’s) political stability, just ten days after the new centre-right Acção Democrática Independente (ADI – Independent Democratic Action) party government led by Prime Minister Patrice Trovoada was sworn in.

Questions continue to be asked about security issues in Zimbabwe, in the wake of a recent training exercise by the Zimbabwe Defence Forces (ZDF) in Mashonaland Central province, an area which fans out north of Harare to the borders with Mozambique and Zambia.

President for four-plus decades, Teodoro Obiang is continuing in office for another term – with the prospect of his controversial son Teodorin taking over – but if that represents ‘stability’ there are still leaves plenty of challenges in the hydrocarbons in-tray, with oil production in decline and even historic partners having second thoughts, writes James Gavin.

The ground-breaking power purchase agreement signed by independent power producer Azura Power in 2013 is again being targeted by a National Assembly probe. Azura has been widely seen as a model for private investment in the electricity supply industry, but pressure continues as politicians seek a way out of a deal they see as too costly, writes Adaora Elemide in Abuja.

Equatorial Guinea’s 80-year-old leader President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo faces political difficulties at home and abroad. Sham election accusations from the exiled opposition, independent analysts and Washington DC have marked his latest success, with a near unanimous vote reported following the 20 November election.

Algeria’s ability to supply more gas has become a strategic priority since its close ally Russia invaded Ukraine. But while Algiers claims a recent series of supply deals and co-operation agreements points to its critical role in meeting surging demand  in Europe, some things are not changing as quickly at state company Sonatrach as the positive headlines suggest, write James Gavin and Jon Marks, with additional reporting by Our Algiers Correspondent and John Hamilton.

Governors of the country’s 36 states have taken legal action to stop the federal government privatising five of the ten power plants developed under the Nigerian Integrated Power Projects (NIPP) initiative.

Société Nationale des Pétroles du Congo is looking to arrest the decline in its maturing crude oil acreage, which threatens Republic of Congo’s main source of income, but the national oil company’s biggest priority is to build up its natural gas resources, managing director Maixent Raoul Ominga told James Gavin.