The year's best stories

Africa is no stranger to geopolitical competition. From the Berlin Conference of 1884-85 to the Cold War, external powers have long sought to colonize, carve up, and exploit the continent. Once again, regional and global powers are focusing on Africa to extend their military and economic influence and to gain an edge over their rivals—whether in terms of diplomatic clout or access to land and natural resources.

Africa is no stranger to geopolitical competition. From the Berlin Conference of 1884-85 to the Cold War, external powers have long sought to colonize, carve up, and exploit the continent. Once again, regional and global powers are focusing on Africa to extend their military and economic influence and to gain an edge over their rivals—whether in terms of diplomatic clout or access to land and natural resources.

As French influence in its former West African colonies wanes, a string of coups in the Sahel region put Niger—a country rarely covered in the international media—front and center this year. The military takeover raised the question of whether neighboring African countries, especially Nigeria, would take the lead in managing a crisis and possibly intervening, rather than looking to external superpowers.

The outbreak of a full-fledged civil war in Sudan in April exposed the rifts between regional powers that usually see themselves as allies as the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia (and Egypt) backed opposing sides in the conflict and the fighting threatened to engulf the........

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