The changing face of Africa

The BBC's Focus On Africa magazine is celebrating its 18th anniversary, to mark its coming of age. In its inaugural edition, five countries were put under the spotlight - Namibia, Senegal, Mauritania, Nigeria and Ethiopia. What has changed now?

NAMIBIA - THEN

There was a hushed silence as 670,000 Namibians waited patiently to vote the South West Africa People's Organisation (Swapo) into power, ending South African rule and a 23-year war that killed 18,000 people.

"Democracy came calmly and quietly to Namibia in 1990," said the BBC's Julian Borger.

One explanation for the sombre mood was that Swapo had predicted a landslide victory but the main opposition party, the South Africa-supported Democratic Turnhalle Alliance, fared better than expected, securing 29% of the vote. Another explanation was that earlier that year Swapo had lost credibility by breaching an international agreement, UN Resolution 435.

Democracy came calmly and quietly to Namibia in 1990 Julian Borger

This was the result of negotiations that began in 1988 and linked Namibian independence to the withdrawal of Cuban troops from Angola.

Swapo combatants had agreed to remain within the Angolan border while the peace plan was implemented.

However, on 1 April, 1990, the organisation breached the agreement in what was to become the bloodiest day of the war.

By the time of the November elections, however, this "catastrophic failure of military and political judgement" had been swept under the carpet.

NAMIBIA - NOW

If there was any doubt of Swapo's popularity in 1990, that can no longer be disputed.

The current president, Hifikepunye Pohamba, won a landslide victory in the presidential elections of 2004 and the party now holds 89% of seats in parliament. Mr Pohamba was the chosen successor of Swapo's founding president, Sam Nujoma.

A reconciliatory racial policy after independence meant that white farmers, who at the time owned much of Namibia's arable land, have remained committed to the country.

However, the land reform policies initiated by Mr Nujoma have begun to gather momentum.

In 2005 the first white farms were expropriated to begin resettling as many as 250,000 landless people; Mr Pohamba has warned of a revolution should white farmers not comply.

Still, with an abundance of diamonds and being the fifth biggest producer of uranium, vital to nuclear power, it is little wonder that Namibia recently signed aid and co-operation agreements with China.

SENEGAL AND MAURITANIA - THEN

The dark days of violence between Mauritanians and Senegalese in April 1990 began with a skirmish on the shared border over grazing rights, and led to the death of two Senegalese citizens.

Senegal blamed Mauritanian security forces for these first two deaths but this was denied by officials who said it was nothing more than a clash between civilians. Nevertheless, more deaths followed and shops in the Senegalese capital, Dakar, were looted.

As a result, some 2,000 destitute and terrified Mauritanians fled for the safety of their embassy.

Towards the end of the month in Mauritania's capital, Nouakchott, 200 Senegalese citizens were murdered in just 24 hours in what became known as "Black Tuesday".

Back in Dakar retaliation came quickly - the so-called "Moor Hunt" claimed the lives of between 55 and 60 people, prompting a state of emergency.

By the end of April the month-long "repatriation" of citizens from both countries was well under way and thousands of black Mauritanians were driven into Senegal.

SENEGAL AND MAURITANIA - NOW

This eruption of violence was a relatively rare occurrence for Senegal.

By 1992 diplomatic relations between the two countries were restored.

Since then the only overt sign of conflict in Senegal has been the long-running, low-level separatist war in the southern Casamance region.

Even as 40 years of Socialist Party rule drew to a close in 2000 relative order prevailed. Despite the fact that poverty and illegal migration to Europe remains a problem, an economic reform programme initiated in 1994 has paid dividends.

Between 1995 and 2007 growth averaged over 5% a year. The same cannot be said for Mauritania.

After the upheavals in 1990 it took until 2005 to oust the authoritarian president Maaouiya Ould Sid Ahmed Taya who had come to power in a bloodless coup in 1984.

In 2007, Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi became Mauritania's first democratically elected president.

However, just when it looked like the tide was turning Abdallahi was deposed in a coup earlier this year.

NIGERIA - THEN

Hope was in the air for the BBC's Lagos correspondent, Sola Odunfa, who reported on Nigeria's unusual route to civilian rule in 1990.

Just three years earlier at a meeting of the Armed Forces Ruling Council the then President Ibrahim Babangida had set the stage with a five-year programme which would culminate in the appointment of two registered political parties by 30 September, 1989.

By May of that year the ban on party politics was officially lifted and campaigning by some 13 political associations began in earnest.

But many Nigerian politicians attempted to buy support from community leaders.

Some even pledged their properties and personal fortunes to raise bank loans to fight the registration battle.

Their efforts were in vain.

Not one association satisfied the National Electoral Commission's new requirements and could be described as little more than a "reincarnation of the parties of old".

On 7 October, President Babangida told Nigeria in a prime-time broadcast he "would not serve our people yesterday's food in glittering new dishes".

Rejecting all 13 associations, he established two moderate parties - the Social Democratic Party and the National Republican Convention.

For a moment there was a glimmer of hope his plan would usher in a "genuinely new breed of politician".

NIGERIA - NOW

Today Nigeria may have an elected leadership but life in a boom-time for one of the world's biggest oil producers remains troubled. With a population of 140 million, Nigeria is Africa's most populous country but more than half its people live in poverty and interfaith violence has occurred.

It was only in 1999 that democracy finally came to Nigeria with the election of Olusegun Obasanjo.

The People's Democratic Party's new leader, Umaru Musa Yar'Adua, was elected in May 2007.

Under a cloud of alleged vote-rigging, Mr Yar'Adua promised to fight the legacy of corruption left by his predecessors.

Since then 12 officials have been charged with embezzling around $4 million of public-health funds.

Since the oil boom of the 1970s, violence, corruption and mismanagement in the resource-rich Niger Delta have undermined progress.

To date, few Nigerians have benefited from the oil boom and security concerns act as a deterrent to international investment.

ETHIOPIA - THEN

In 1990 Ethiopia's President Mengistu Haile Mariam was losing his dictatorial grip and a spiralling defence budget left him with little choice but to enter into peace talks with rebel groups in the country.

His Soviet-supported army was in a mess. Food shortages, insufficient medical supplies and thousands killed or captured between 1988 and 1990 meant morale was at an all-time low.

But it was a botched coup attempt in May 1990 - when 14 generals and 16 officers died and over 193 were arrested - that threatened to hasten his departure.

Senior army officials and government ministers had broken ranks to stage the coup as Col Mengistu set off on an official visit to East Germany.

Despite managing to hang on to power, the president had at his command a much weakened and worn-out army and only lasted until the following year when he was forced to flee the country.

ETHIOPA - NOW

Ethiopia may be largely free from coups but it is certainly not peaceful.

Drought, food shortages, a long and bloody conflict with Eritrea and intervention in neighbouring Somalia have dominated recent history.

Although Eritrea achieved independence from Ethiopia in 1993, by 1998 border clashes had escalated into a full scale war which killed tens of thousands.

In 2008, the outlook remains uncertain at best.

Border tensions with Eritrea persist.

Ethiopia is one of Africa's poorest countries, and the economy is dependent on agriculture, a problem given that the country is often drought-stricken. Coffee, its main export commodity, is also vulnerable to price fluctuations.

Prime Minister Meles Zenawi is in his third five-year stint which he won in 2005 despite a swing to the opposition.

In 2008, Ethiopia's Supreme Court sentenced Col Mengistu, in absentia, to death.