Al Jazeera Documentaries

Seventeen African nations gained their independence in 1960, but the dreams of the independence era were short-lived. Africa states of independence tells the story of some of those countries - stories of mass exploitation, of the ecstasy of independence and of how - with liberation - a new, covert scramble for resources was born.

Cote d'Ivoire was once a bastion of peace in a turbulent region, but political instability now prevails.

On August 11, 1960, Chad gained independence from France. In half a century of independence Chad has known decades of on-off war, poverty crisis, and trouble with its neighbours like Sudan. Then oil was discovered and this year the country signed a treaty with Sudan putting an end to the fighting. So are things finally coming together for Chad, or will its newly found resource become a curse as it has in many African nations?

Senegal, a country on Western-most edge of the African continent with a predominantly Muslim nation of 12 million, has a fully functioning democracy, and has largely escaped incidents of separatist violence that have hampered the progress of several of its neighbours. But Senegal is not without its problems. Its economy has recently faltered, due in part to the relative scarcity of natural resources, and there are suggestions that its cherished tradition of democracy is under threat, with the president allegedly grooming his son to succeed him.

Nigeria has suffered from ethnic tension and corruption but can Africa's most populous nation become the continent's biggest success story?

A look at the current state of the DRC's capital, Kinshasa: its broken infrastructure and institutions, its terrifying development indicators, its rampant poverty. Is the "great new country" Lumumba envisioned about to awaken, or is the sleeping giant malevolent?