"Ansaru's new salience represents another, serious challenge to Nigeria's stability," writes John Campbell.

France says it will withdraw from Mali once an African peacekeeping force is in place. To keep Islamists at bay, the United States is considering increasing its military presence in the region. A better approach is to focus on fixing the governance issues that fuel radicalism to begin with, says John Campbell.

The radical Islamist group Boko Haram has contributed to widespread and deadly violence in Nigeria, but the government sercurity services are also at fault, write CFR's John Campbell and Asch Harwood.

With the death toll in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo likely exceeding six million, the UN peacekeeping force needs beefing up, and both the Rwandan and Congolese governments should punish nationals guilty of violence against civilians, says CFR's John Campbell.

The leadership void caused by the illness of Nigerian President Umaru Yar'adua could lead to domestic upheaval and a succession crisis, writes CFR's John Campbell.

The worsening political crisis in Guinea will require stronger UN involvement and greater efforts on the part of African leaders to avoid what could become a civil war and a massive humanitarian crisis, says CFR's John Campbell.

The WikiLeaks revelations aren't likely to do lasting damage, but CFR experts say they will make it harder to collaborate with governments such as Pakistan, hurt sensitive relationships, and hinder the open exchanges successful diplomacy requires.

The apparent victory of incumbent Goodluck Jonathan in Nigeria's presidential elections brings charges of fraud and ballot stuffing, similar to past flawed polls, writes CFR's John Campbell. It also deepens concerns about heightened rifts between Christians and Muslims.

Gbagbo's arrest in Ivory Coast vindicates the results of the Ivorian elections and sets a positive precedent for other African states, says CFR's John Campbell. However, Alassane Ouattara must deal with hundreds of thousands of displaced persons and determine how to govern a severely divided country.

The Sudan referendum now underway will likely result in the south's independence, but unresolved disputes and population shifts require the Obama administration's continued intense diplomatic and humanitarian engagement, says CFR's John Campbell.

Ailing Nigerian President Yar'adua's sudden return after a three-month absence raises questions about who's in charge and whether a power struggle is brewing between the president's coterie and the political establishment, says CFR's John Campbell.

Nigeria's National Assembly voted Vice President Goodluck Jonathan as acting president, ending peacefully, but unconstitutionally, a power vacuum left by the ailing Yar'adua, says CFR's John Campbell.

The charging of a Nigerian with trying to blow up a U.S. airliner casts new attention on Nigeria's growing Muslim militancy and social challenges, writes CFR's John Campbell.

France says it will withdraw from Mali once an African peacekeeping force is in place. To keep Islamists at bay, the United States is considering increasing its military presence in the region. A better approach is to focus on fixing the governance issues that fuel radicalism to begin with, says John Campbell.

John Campbell argues, "Only genuine reform of Nigeria's political economy can pull it back from the brink."

John Campbell discusses Nelson Mandela's contributions to South Africa.

John Campbell states, "Rather than resolving the generations-long Sudan crisis, Juba's independence on July 9 merely opens a new chapter in a familiar, complicated story."

John Campbell says both Norway and Nigeria offer lessons for the Arab Spring countries on how to handle oil revenues.

John Campbell argues that the elections in Nigeria reveal the need for the United States and its allies to reach out to Nigeria's North.

John Campbell says clarifying the distinction between the north and the south in Nigeria is relevant to understanding the debates and conflicts around who will be Nigeria's next president.

John Campbell says that the nomination of Goodluck Jonathan as Nigeria's presidential candidate places an even stronger premium on the credibility of the April 2011 elections.

John Campbell discusses the election standoff in Ivory Coast.

John Campbell reflects on the 2009 "underwear bomber" incident, and how it revealed the need for Americans to understand religion in Nigeria.