February 11: Sudan/South Sudan

Sudan and South Sudan sign a non-aggression pact mediated by South Africa’s former president, Thabo Mbeki. Since South Sudan’s independence in July, both sides have seen border clashes over unresolved secession disputes. One of the more polarizing issues is oil export fees.

March 14: Democratic Republic of Congo

The International Criminal Court (ICC) finds former guerrilla leader Thomas Lubanga guilty of using child soldiers during the conflict between ethnic groups in the north-eastern resource-rich Ituri province in the Democratic Republic of Congo. It is a victory for the international court and precedence, showing that the ICC can bring the world’s worst criminals to justice.

March 22: Mali

Military officers in Mali depose the country’s president Amadou Toumani Toure and seize power, accusing the president of failing to deal effectively with the Tuareg rebellion in the north of the country. The international community, including the United Nations, the World Bank, and the African Development Bank condemns the coup. The African Union and the West African regional organization, ECOWAS, suspend Mali’s memberships.

April 6: Mali

The Tuareg minority in Mali seizes power in the north of the country and declares independence for a region called Azawad. The move is condemned by the African Union. The Tuareg are nomadic Berber people with their own language and culture who claim they have been discriminated by the Mali government. (April 12): The military, who seized power in a coup last month, hands over power to a civilian government led by an interim President Dioncounda Traore. Traore has 40 days to organize new elections. He is a founding member of the Alliance for Democracy in Mali party.

May 6: Mali

Islamist rebels destroy a shrine to a local Muslim saint in Mali’s historic town of Timbuktu, saying it offended true Islamic beliefs. The city is in the northern part of the country controlled by rebels. The United Nations says Timbuktu, a UN heritage town, is endangered. (May 27): Mali’s secular Tuareg rebels who seized northern part of the country after the coup and Islamic fighters of Ansar Dine agree to merge and turn this part of Mali into an Islamic state. Hundreds of thousands of people flee the territory. (May 21): The country’s interim president, Dioncounda Traore, is severely beaten by supporters of the coup.

May 10: Algeria

Algerians vote in more free and transparent parliamentary elections organized by President Abdelaziz Bouteflika as a result of last year’s Arab Spring demands. Dozens of political parties, including 23 newly formed ones, contest an increased number of parliamentary seats. As a result of the elections, the ruling National Liberation Front (FLN) wins the majority of seats with the National Democratic Rally (RND) coming in second. An Islamic alliance forming the Islamist Green Algeria Alliance comes in third, but alleges fraud. About 500 international election monitors are allowed to observe the elections.

May 16: South Sudan

A report by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says that in the last few months a number of South Sudanese at risk of food shortages has increased to about 4.7 million. The main reasons for the increase are continued clashes between south and north and the shutdown of oil production in the south, which has had a devastating impact on South Sudan’s economy. Although 75 percent of oil is on the territory of South Sudan, the pipelines run through northern Sudan. The two countries cannot come to an agreement on sharing the oil wealth.

May 23: Egypt

Egyptians are going to the polls to choose a president in the country’s first free elections in its history. The frontrunners include Ahmed Shafiq, a former commander of the air force; Amr Moussa, former foreign minister and head of the Arab League; Mohammed Mursi, head of the Muslim Brotherhood; and Abdul Moneim Aboul Fotouh, an independent Islamist candidate. (May 28): As none of the candidates wins an outright majority, the two frontrunners, Mohammed Mursi and Ahmed Shafiq, will contest a presidential run-off in June. (May 31): Egypt ends the state of emergency that had been in place continuously since the assassination of President Anwar Sadat in 1981. The state of emergency allowed President Hosni Mubarak’s regime to arrest and detain opponents without proper trials.

May 30: Liberia

The United Nations-backed war crimes Special Court for Sierra Leone in The Hague (SCSL) sentences former Liberian President Charles Taylor to 50 years in prison for actively aiding the rebels in Sierra Leone during the country’s civil war lasting from 1991 to 2002. In exchange for diamonds, Taylor provided the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) with weapons as well as logistical support.

June 2: Egypt

A court in Egypt holds former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak responsible for the killings of protesters during the 2011 uprising and sentences him to life in prison. Mubarak ruled Egypt from 1981 to 2011. (June 24): Mohammed Mursi, the candidate of the Muslim Brotherhood, wins Egypt’s run-off election, becoming the country’s first democratically elected president. (June 30): The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) officially transfers power to President Mursi, but retains significant legislative powers and control over the military. It also gives itself veto power over a new constitution once it is drafted. After the ruling by the Supreme Constitutional Court that the recent parliamentary election was unconstitutional, the SCAF dissolves the parliament, where the Islamic parties, such as the Muslim Brotherhood, held 70 percent of the seats. The Court says that the parliamentary election was violated by allowing party candidates to contest one-third of seats designated for independents.

June 17: Nigeria

Suicide bombers from Boko Haram militant group attack three churches in Nigeria’s Kaduna state, killing at least 50 people and injuring many others. The bombings spark revenge riots. Boko Haram is a violent militant Islamist group based in the predominantly Muslim north of the country that seeks to establish the sharia law throughout Nigeria. It is believed that the group has ties to al-Qaeda. Since 2009, the group has carried out a number of fatal attacks, causing sectarian clashes in which more than 600 people have died. (June 21): The United States designates three members of Nigeria’s Islamist group, Boko Haram, as terrorists. (June 23): Nigeria’s president, Goodluck Jonathan, sacks his defense minister and national security adviser saying his government needs a new approach to fighting militants.

July 7: Libya

The Libyan people vote in their first free parliamentary election since 1952, with more than 100 political parties contesting 80 seats. The elected General National Congress will replace Libya’s National Transitional Council, which was established during the Libyan uprising against Colonel Muammar Gaddafi. Former interim Prime Minsiter Mahmoud Jibril’s National Forces Alliance comes first, winning 39 seats. The Assembly will also include independent candidates.

July 11: Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)

The United Nations peacekeeping troops are being redirected to the Democratic Republic of Congo’s eastern city of Goma to protect its population from advancing rebels. The rebels, mutineers from the army, say they want to protect the Tutsi minority in the city who, they say, is being mistreated. The UN and DRC accuse Rwanda of supporting and training the rebels, the claim Rwanda denies.

August 20: Somalia

Somalia swears in its first parliament in more than 20 years at a highly secured by the African Union forces Mogadishu airport. The event marks the end of eight years of the transitional government. The new parliament is now expected to elect a new president.

August 22: Kenya

More than 50 people die in ethnic clashes between the Orma and Pokomo groups in Coast Province in south-eastern Kenya, the latest in a string of attacks in this poor semi-arid region. These clashes are sparked by disputes over land, grazing and water rights.

September 10: Somalia

Somalia’s new parliament elects Hassan Sheikh Mohamud the country’s president. The vote is carried out under tight security by African Union troops in the country’s Mogadishu airport. Mohamud is an academic and a civic activist who worked in international organizations, including the United Nations UNICEF. He faces severe challenges, including the al-Shabab militia and the country’s powerful competing clans.

September 12: Libya

The United States Ambassador to Libya J. Christopher Stevens and three other embassy employees are killed after armed protesters storm the consulate in Benghazi. The violent protests were sparked by a U.S.-produced anti-Islamic low budget film that appeared on the internet. It is suspected that the raid is carried out by a militia known as the Ansar al-Sharia.

September 29: Somalia

The African Union forces push Somalia’s Islamist militant group al-Shabab from its last stronghold in a major city and the country’s second largest port of Kismayo. As a significant source of revenue, the loss of Kismayo is a major blow to the militants. The group is still in control of most of the central and southern areas of Somalia.

October 14: Libya

Libya’s National Congress elects Alid Zidan the country’s new prime minister after Mustafa Abu Shagur failed to form a government. Zidan is a liberal politician who defected from Colonel Muammar Gaddafi’s government in 1980 and joined the opposition forces abroad.

October 17: Somalia

Somalia’s new president selects former businessman Abdi Farah Shirdon as the country’s new prime minister. The biggest challenge he is facing is the Islamist organization al-Shabab, which is connected to al-Qaeda, and in control of large southern and central areas of Somalia.

November 22: Egypt

Egypt’s president, Mohammed Mursi, issues an emergency decree that grants him extensive powers to make decisions that cannot be challenged by the judiciary, and gives the constituent assembly until January to complete drafting a new constitution. The move causes waves of popular protests.

November 30: Democratic Republic of Congo

After 11 days of holding the town of Goma, the Democratic Republic of Congo’s main city in the east, M23 rebels withdraw upon the government’s agreement to release some of their supporters. M23 rebels, also known as the Congolese Revolutionary Army, are led by officers of former CNDP rebel group, including General Ntaganda who is accused of war crimes by the International Criminal Court. M23 refers to March 23, 2009, when the CNDP and the government agreed to integrate the rebels into the country’s armed forces, but some of them later deserted. The rebels vow to topple the DRC’s president, Joseph Kabila. The UN accuses Rwanda and Uganda of backing the rebels who are mostly ethnically Tutsi.

December 9: Egypt

Pressured by popular unrest, Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi annuls the November decree that significantly expanded his powers and undermined the country’s judiciary. He refuses, however, to cancel the controversial referendum on a draft constitution, also hugely unpopular among the opposition. (December 15): Egyptian voters approve a new constitution with 63 percent of the vote. However, the turnout was only 33 percent. The opposition claims that the new constitution was rushed through drafting and it favors the Islamists, and at the same time fails to protect the freedoms and human rights fought for during the Arab Spring. The opposition plans more protests.

December 10: Ghana

Ghana’s interim president, John Dramani Mahama, narrowly wins presidential election, defeating opposition leader Nana Akufo-Addo. Although the international observers declare the election free and fair, the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) accuses the governing party of fraud and boycotts the swearing in celebrations. Mahama was a vice president who took over the presidency after a sudden death of President John Atta Mills in July 2012.

December 11: Mali

Mali’s prime minister, Cheick Modibo Diarra, resigns under pressure from the army and is put under house arrest. Diarra supported a plan to send the West African regional group ECOWAS military intervention force into northern Mali held by rebels, which the army opposed. President Diouncounda Traore appoints Django Sissoko new prime minister.