The inauguration of President Barack Obama was filled with tremendously moving images, perhaps none more striking than the crowds who gathered in Kogelo, Kenya — the birthplace of Obama’s father — to watch the ceremony. Archbishop Desmond Tutu and the South African newspaper Business Day both compared Obama’s election to that of Nelson Mandela, the first democratically elected president in South Africa. As elsewhere in the world, Obama’s task will be to maintain that enthusiasm in the face of real challenges.

Although Africa has been billed as one of the Bush administration’s foreign policy successes, three conflicts continue to dominate headlines: Sudan, Somalia, and Zimbabwe. The Sudanese regime continues to perpetrate mass atrocities in Darfur, and the 2003 peace agreement between the north and south is at risk of unraveling; Somalia is still in a state of anarchy, with various Islamist factions fighting it out following the withdrawal of Ethiopian troops at the end of last year; and Robert Mugabe is still in power in Zimbabwe, despite a power-sharing agreement that was signed in September but never implemented.

In the short term, President Obama has no choice but to address these conflicts. The conflicts in Sudan and Somalia are two of the deadliest on the continent. The instability in Somalia has facilitated the emergence of pirates and Al-Shabaab (a radical Islamist insurgency with ties to al-Qaida), both threats to vital American interests. And Mugabe’s tyranny in Zimbabwe has destroyed the country’s economy and health care system, systematically violated political and civil liberties, and created a cholera epidemic and refugee crisis that threaten neighboring countries.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has invoked the concept of “smart power” to describe how America will use diplomatic, military, and humanitarian means to achieve its foreign policy goals in the coming years. But as the Obama administration tackles these African conflicts, it is worth remembering two principles.

First, don’t forget the “power” in “smart power.” The success of this strategy will often depend on a credible threat of punishment. One of the most successful examples of America’s smart power was in Liberia in 2003. As negotiations with Liberian President Charles Taylor began, several credible threats were already in place: The Special Court for Sierra Leone had indicted Taylor for war crimes; U.S. navy ships were docked off the country’s coast; and a West African force was in Monrovia. As a result, American and African officials successfully pressured Taylor to give up power and leave the country for Nigeria. The warlord is now standing trial for war crimes.

Second, effective diplomacy requires respected diplomats. These longstanding conflicts are likely to require the appointment of full-time special envoys. But special envoys must have enough respect and credibility to effectively lead policymaking. In Kenya, for example, former U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan was appointed as mediator to resolve the political conflict which erupted following Kenya’s 2007 election. Annan’s stature on the continent almost certainly contributed to his success.

As the Obama team tackles these longstanding conflicts, they should also recognize that Africa is rapidly changing. In particular, Africa’s progress is all too often ignored. In the past decade, many of the continent’s deadliest wars — such as in West Africa, Angola, and Rwanda — have been resolved. Since 1989, the majority of regimes have abandoned one-party or military rule and embraced democracy.

In addition to political progress, Africa’s economies are also growing, mainly because of the gradual adoption of market-friendly policies. According to the World Bank, between 1995 and 2005, Africa’s economies grew at a rate of 5.4 percent, reversing two decades of economic stagnation. As a result, poverty rates have also begun to decline. Africa’s economic growth and democratic gains are likely to continue, propelled by high levels of domestic and Chinese investment, civil society activism, and external pressure from Africa’s multilateral institutions, such as the African Union.

These economic and political changes have transformed African societies, making old threats — such as civil wars — less frequent. But new threats, not exclusive to Africa, such as networks of organized crime cartels and radical Islamists, have arisen. In a recent study, the watchdog group Small Arms Survey showed that the vast majority of the annual victims of armed violence now die from organized crime rather than war.

South American drug cartels have started using West African nations to transit cocaine to lucrative European markets, and U.N. officials fear that several West African countries — such as Guinea-Bissau, Senegal, Mauritania, Ghana, Togo, Benin and Nigeria — could become “narco-states.” [See Joseph Kirschke's WPR series for more.] In Nigeria, organized crime cartels now control vast swaths of land and waterways in the oil-producing Niger Delta, where they manage a lucrative business hijacking oil workers and stealing oil. Pirates control Somalia’s coastline and regularly seize ships, demanding ransoms of millions of dollars to release crews and cargo. Radical Islamist groups threaten numerous countries in the Sahel and Horn of Africa.

To its credit, the Bush administration recognized that these non-state, transnational actors profoundly threaten Africa’s prospects for peace and development. It even created a separate regional command of the U.S. military, AFRICOM, to help the continent confront these security threats. But distrust of the Bush administration’s motives fostered popular misunderstandings about AFRICOM’s purposes.

Obama has already restored trust in America. Hopefully he will use this trust to help Africa confront both its past conflicts and new challenges.

Michelle Sieff is a writer, consultant, and political analyst of sub-Saharan Africa.

Photo: NASA satellite image of Africa.