As I noted in this column space at this same time last year, the end of one year and the beginning of another is an ideal time "both to take stock of where we have been and to look ahead at the paths we are likely to take and the battles which we will have to fight in the coming months." This is even truer when the specific area of interest under examination is the security situation in Africa, especially at a historic moment like the present one when, within the fortnight, Barack Obama will take the oath of office as the forty-fourth President of the United States of America, an event which, as I observed here two months ago, has been greeted with such enthusiasm by Africans that the new chief executive has "a rare opportunity to translate effusive sentiments of good will into a windfall of diplomatic capital which, if he husbands it prudently, can significantly advance America's values and interests on the continent while helping to achieve Africans' aspirations for peace, stability, and development."
What follows is a broad survey of five of the most significant conflicts or flashpoints which will require the attention of the incoming administration and its African and other international partners in the coming year.
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