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Since the military coup of December 1999, a major social and political crisis has gripped Côte d'Ivoire. A series of mutinies and forcible takeover attempts marked the ten-month period of transition from military rule that followed the coup. The institutions of the Second Republic that began operating in 2000 were set up at the end of a disputed electoral process marred by bloodshed. Efforts to take power by force continued, and one such attempt, on 19 September 2002, grew into an armed rebellion. Since then, the country has been divided in two.

In view of the requirement to combat poverty set out in the Growth and Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper and in the light of the Government's programme, both of which are included as objectives in the plan of priority actions presented in June 2007, and in line with the recommendations of the European Consensus on Development, the Democratic Republic of the Congo has opted to channel the indicative amount of €514 million allocated under the 10th EDF A-envelope to the following three priority areas:

Situated at the northern end of the Mozambique Channel, the archipelago of the Comoros consists of four islands, three of which, Grande Comore (Ngazidja), Anjouan (Ndzwani) and Mohéli (Mwali), covering an area of 1 861 km2, form the Union of the Comoros, while the fourth, Mayotte (Mahoré), remained French when the Comoros gained independence. The country has an estimated population of 600 000 and a very high average population density of 320 inhabitants per km2.

Chad is a landlocked country at the heart of central Africa and is as vast as France, Germany and Poland taken together. The northern half of the country is in the Sahara region and is home to only 1% of the 9 million Chadians. Three-quarters of the population live in rural areas. In terms of human development indicators, the 2006 UNDP report ranks Chad 171st out of 177 countries. In Chad, 55% of the population – and 88% of women - are considered illiterate, life expectancy in the country is 50 years and the infant mortality rate is 12%.

Ranked 171st out of 177 on the Human Development Index, the Central African Republic managed during 2005 to leave behind a long period of political and military tensions by holding internationally recognised elections restoring constitutional order. There are many challenges surrounding security, socio-economic indicators, good governance, human rights and the rule of law, and these challenges can only be tackled in an integrated way.

Cape Verde is seen as a model of democracy in Africa. The country has been a multi-party democracy since 1990, governments of different stripes have succeeded each other seamlessly, and political rivalry remains peaceful. The fundamental freedoms are recognised and guaranteed by law and observed in practice. The separation of powers, and in particularly the independence of the judiciary, is a fact of life. Civil society is increasingly assertive. Cape Verde is seen as being relatively free from corruption.

In view of the fact that the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) requires Cameroon to combat poverty and in accordance with the recommendations of the European Consensus on Development, Cameroon has opted to channel the indicative amount of EUR 239 million allocated under the 10th EDF A-envelope to two priority areas:

Au Cameroun, les flux migratoires actuels se traduisent, d'une part, par un mouvement général des campagnes vers les villes et, d'autre part, par une tendance à l'émigration vers l'Europe, en particulier vers la France.

During the lifetime of the ninth European Development Fund (EDF), covering the years from 2003 to 2007, the European Community was able to support Burundi during a transitional period of crucial importance to the country's future.

A landlocked Sahelian country, Burkina Faso counts among the world's poorest. It has a population of 13.7 million (2006 figures) and a surface area of 274 000 km². With few natural resources and a deteriorating natural environment, it is also subject to the imponderables of a Sahelian climate; rainfall is often inadequate or unevenly distributed.