Africa in 2014

In March 2014, Guinea recorded the first cases of Ebola. The virus quickly spread to neighboring Liberia and Sierra Leone, aided unwittingly by weaknesses in health care systems. Cases were reported in other African countries, in Europe and the United States. By December, the virus had infected more than 20,000 people and killed over 7,500, mostly in West Africa.

While Europe treats its Ebola patients in state-of-the-art special facilities, West Africa struggles to find volunteers, isolation wards and doctors to fight the virus. West Africans are hoping for a vaccine. The epidemic has badly damaged the economies of Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. It has robbed children of their parents. Other diseases, such as malaria and typhoid, are left untreated.

It has been a year of violent conflict in South Sudan, triggered by an alleged coup in December 2013. President Salva Kiir accused his former deputy, Riek Machar, of trying to overthrow him. More than one million people fled to neighboring countries to escape the fighting, thousands were killed. Ceasefires have been agreed upon and then broken.

On April 16, the Islamist terror group Boko Haram kidnapped more than 200 schoolgirls from the town of Chibok in northern Nigeria. The outrage sparked by the incident led to the international social media campaign #BringBackOurGirls. Nigerians were furious at their government's failure to act - even though officials knew where the girls were being held. The girls are still in captivity.

By the end of 2014, Boko Haram were carrying out attacks with increasing regularity, sometimes killing hundreds of people. The group gained control of key northern Nigerian cities such as Gwoza. An 18-month state of emergency in three states has failed to rein in the insurgency but President Goodluck Jonathan has said he will be standing for re-election in 2015 nonetheless.

After massacres in December 2013, 2014 started out with a glimmer of hope in CAR as Catherine Samba-Panza took over power from rebel leader Michel Djotodia and became interim president. But her appeals for peace and reconciliation went largely unheard. Over 9,000 EU, AU and UN peacekeepers struggled to prevent fighting between Seleka and anti-balaka forces.

20 years after the country's first free elections, South Africa's democracy is in crisis. President Jacob Zuma faces criticism from the opposition as well as from his own party, the ANC. He has been accused of embezzling from the state, of poor leadership and abuse of power. Many South Africans are disappointed with the ANC. Youth unemployment in the country is high and the economy is weak.

After an hour he must have noticed that the race was gong very well. On April 24, 2014 Kenyan Dennis Kimetto completed the Berlin Marathon in 2 hours 2 minutes and 57 seconds - a new world record. The 30 year old, a relative newcomer to the sport, has picked up one prize after the other. "I like Berlin," he said before the race. That must have helped.

At the beginning of the year, Mozambique was on the brink of civil war. Opposition party RENAMO had called on its supporters to join an armed struggle. But at the last moment a new peace treaty was signed with the government. This enabled presidential elections to be held in October. They were won by Filipe Nyusi of the governing FRELIMO party.

The presidential elections in Mali in September 2013 were supposed to turn the page on the country's civil war. But tensions persist. In May 2014, Tuareg rebels invaded the northern city of Kidal and refused to back away from their demands for a semi-autonomous state. A third round of negotiations between the rebels and the Malian government was broken off in November.

Burkina Faso's President Blaise Compaore - in power for 27 years - wanted to stay at the helm by amending the constitution. The population rose up in revolt and Compaore fled to Ivory Coast. The military installed an interim government, which has been called upon to prepare the country for elections in 2015.

European parliamentarians were shocked as Dr Denis Mukwege related details of his work in Panzi Hospital in the city of Bukavu in eastern DRC. The respected gynecologist treats women who were raped and mutilated during the civil war. The European Parliament honored him with its Sakharov Prize for the defense of freedom of thought and human rights.

The International Criminal Court in The Hague terminated proceedings against Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta. The chief prosecutor dropped the charges of crimes against humanity because there was insufficient evidence to lay before a court of law. Kenyatta was to have been charged with being an accessory to rape, deportation and murder after the 2007 election in Kenya.

Somalia's al-Shabab Islamist militants are stepping up their suicide bomb attacks on neighboring Kenya. In 2014, 200 people were killed in more than 25 attacks in that country. Al-Shabab targets civilians, tourists and non-Muslims. Kenyan troops are participating in the AMISOM mission deployed to protect the Somalian government from the al-Shabab insurgency.