PARIS, France (AFP) – Highlights of the year just ending in Africa: – The Khartoum government signed a peace deal with the Sudan People’s Liberation Army of John Garang to end 21 years of bloody conflict in the south of Africa’s biggest state. But Garang himself died in a helicopter crash only six months later.

– There was more bloodshed in the western Sudanese region of Darfur. The International Criminal Court opened an inquiry into atrocities there, and the African Union convened peace talks.

– Violence continued in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, where UN forces clashed with militia groups. However, a nationwide constitutional referendum brought hope of more stability.

– Ivory Coast remained unstable, with both African Union and French forces trying to keep an uneasy peace, and South Africa mediating.

– The HIV/AIDS virus continued to ravage the continent, with an estimated 24 million victims. International experts warned that it was beginning to destroy family life.

– Nigeria’s massive oil industry was a focus for strife, with widespread unrest and violence in the Niger Delta region. The country also saw several horrific accidents. In December a plane crash killed 107 people, of whom 71 were children from the same school.

– The west African state of Togo was thrown into turmoil when veteran leader Gnassingbe Eyadema died. Amid major unrest his son Faure Gnassingbe was elected to succeed him.

– On the death of Pope John Paul II, many Africans hoped to see one of their own become head of the Roman Catholic Church, but in the end a German cardinal got the job.

– The Group of Eight rich countries promised debt relief for the world’s poorest countries, most of them in Africa, but anti-poverty groups and the African Union were unimpressed.

– Elections took place, sparking violence, in Ethiopia and Tanzania. Zimbabwean Prime Minister Robert Mugabe was credited with a massive win in parliamentary elections there, but much of the world community cried foul. Zimbabwe also came under fire for a controversial slum clearance programme.

– In a sign of increasing US interest in the continent’s oil resources, US troops held military exercises with forces in several African states.

– Genocide trials arising from the Rwandan genocide continued. The citizens of Burundi approved a new constitution, while voters in Kenya refused one.

– The African Union called on the United Nations to grant the continent two permanent seats on the UN Security Council, but the idea did not find favour.

– Somalia moved slightly closer to getting a real government, but there were numerous incidents of maritime piracy off its coasts.

– Colonel Ely Ould Mohamed Vall took power in a bloodless coup in Mauritania, while in Algeria violence by Islamic extremist groups was down sharply.

– The Spanish north African enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla, on the Moroccan coast, became the latest focus of desperate attempts by mostly African emigrants to get across the Mediterranean to a better life in Europe.

– Tension rose again between Eritrea and Ethiopia.

– The last contingent of UN troops withdrew from Sierra Leone.

– Veteran politician Ellen Johnson Sirleaf won a presidential election in Liberia, becoming Africa’s first elected woman head of state.