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Focuses on the lack of economic development in Equatorial Guinea following the discovery of oil. How Mobil has tripled in production every year since it started operations; How the poor of Equatorial Guinea have no running water or electricity; How the International Monetary Fund complains of widespread government corruption and mismanagement; Evidence that money given to African governments can put these countries into turmoil.

Reveals that Senegal has become the latest country to make female circumcision, or female genital mutilation, a crime but a backlash has supporters of the law backtracking. United States First Lady Hillary Clinton's visit to Senegal in 1997 in which she praised villagers who have ended the practice; Number of women in at least 28 African countries that have undergone the procedure; The lack of support for the law even among local opponents of female circumcision.

Focuses on the civil war in Sierra Leone in West Africa. Support of the Nigerian-led West African regional force known as ECOMOG, which is aligned with the government of Sierra Leone; The Sierra Leone Army supporting the rebels; ECOMOG troops repelling rebels from the city of Freetown in January 1999; Belief that Nigeria's interest in Sierra Leone is diamonds.

Reports on a peacekeeping force from West African nations and their failure to stop rebels from entering Sierra Leone's capital, Freetown. What motivates the rebels in Sierra Leone's civil war; The question of whether regional armies can solve conflicts in Africa; Sierra Leone's elected government known as ECOMOG; The view of President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah; Creation of ECOMOG by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). INSET: Sierra Leone's decade of tumult.

Reports on the efforts of France, a former colonial power, to maintain its influence in Central Africa. France's intervention in a civil war in Senegal; Efforts to broker a cease-fire between the government and separatist rebels in the southern Casamance region; Shift in French policy.

Questions wether the Haratin, former slaves, in Mauritania, a West African nation, are really free. Unpaid services provided by these Haratin; Ban imposed by the United States on all economic and military assistance to the government of Mauritania; History of slavery in the country.

Reports on the efforts of female gynecologist, Aja Tounkara Diallo Fatimata, who helps save thousands of women in West Africa from circumcision. How she gets to save the women; Reason she tries to persuade parents of daughters not to allow the operation; Number of women circumcised annually, according to the World Health Organization.

Focuses on the achievements of Fatma Zeina Mint Sbaghou, a black woman from Nouakchot, Mauritania who is one of the country's 79 members of parliament. Who Sbaghou has authority over; When elections took place; Government reluctant to change the system of slavery; Background on the country; Remarks from Sbaghou.

Focuses on the September 26, 1996 Gambian elections and possible return of western aid to that country. Emergence of Colonel Yahya Jammeh as the victor; Contention that the electoral process was not free and fair; Description of things Jammeh did for the country; Cultivation of other aid sources.

Reports on Gambian dictator Yahya A.J.J. Jammeh's banning of political parties until early August 1991 allegedly to sharpen his chances in the September 11, 1996 elections. Campaign-style rallies staged by Yammeh; Defiance by local British Broadcasting Corp. correspondent Ebrima Ceesay.

Reports that child laborers in Dakar, Senegal have united to form the first citywide association to demand the same rights as their adult counterparts. Conditions of child laborers in the city; Estimated number child laborers in the world; International Labor Organization's international program for the elimination of child labor.

Reports on Africa's economic development. Economic-development organizations' plan to support the initiatives of poor people; Illegal economic activities; Environmental Development Action's (ENDA) opening of a complex in the middle of an inner-city slum in Senegal's capital, Dakar.

Examines the practice of female circumcision in Senegal. Circumcision also called female genital mutilation (FGM); Role of practice in some African cultures; Villages uniting for the first time to stop the practice; Number of girls who have undergone the procedure; Impact of an education program run by the African organization Tostan; Response of villages which have not undergone the Tostan program and Senegalese leaders.

Profiles Francisca Pereira, head of the police force in Guinea Bissau, the first woman to hold such a position in all of Africa. Her qualifications; Her role in the 1974 war of independence against Portugal; What she has been assigned to do with the police force; Her beliefs and attitudes; The status that women hold in Guinea Bissau in 1997; Pereira's efforts to move the country forward.

Reports that in Sierra Leone, women are involved in striving for peace by joining the Army, but others have become guerrilla fighters and bodyguards. Women raped and men castrated in Makeni; What happened to women who tried to get rebels to put down their weapons.

Focuses on the risk of democracy in Sierra Leonne as Liberians flee their civil war which began in 1991. Description of civil war; Comments from United Nations officials.

Focuses on Sierra Leone, and the 21-gun salute in that country which signaled the peaceful transfer of power on March 29, 1996. Take over of Sierra Leone by Brigadier General Julius Maada Bio in a palace coup; Number of people killed in the country's five-year civil war; Number of people driven from their population; Comments from President Alhaji Ahmad Tejan Kabbah, a former official with the United Nations Development in New York; Details on election in Sierra Leone.