The National Democratic Institute is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization working to support and strengthen democratic institutions worldwide through citizen participation, openness and accountability in government.

NDI’s regional director for Central and Western Africa, Christopher Fomunyoh, outlined political and technical challenges facing Mali after last March’s military coup in testimony Dec. 5 before the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on African Affairs.

As Guinea prepares for its first legislative elections since a 2008 military coup, the role of the nation’s security forces during the election period has come to the fore.

In 2010 Guineans participated in a democratic election that brought President Alpha Condé to power. Though the armed forces played a constructive role in providing security for that poll, a massacre in 2009, in which the military opened fire on unarmed civilian protesters, still weighs heavily on the minds of Guinean citizens.

While generally free and peaceful, some aspects of the recent general elections in Angola lacked transparency, which undermined the credibility of the electoral process, according to a report by the Coalition for Election Observation (Coligação para Observação Eleitoral, COE).

With roads and infrastructure still in disrepair from the First and Second Congo Wars, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) faces some of the world’s greatest mobility and communications challenges.

The country is large — around two-thirds the size of Western Europe— and lack of transportation options severely restricts travel. For instance, a recent 3,000 km car trip that should have been measured in hours required 15 days to complete. Air travel is in many cases the sole option for moving from place to place.