LONDON: Egypt and Libya plunged in an annual rating of good governance in Africa released in London on Monday that saw Ivory Coast rise the fastest.

Mo Ibrahim, the Sudan-born telecoms tycoon, who founded the Ibrahim Index of African Governance, said overall governance had improved on the continent over the past five years, though all the leading countries have seen reverses in some fields.

Mauritius remains top of the 52 countries ranked, while Somalia stays far adrift at the bottom of the table.

The index ranks 52 countries according to 95 indicators grouped under four categories: safety and the rule of law, participation and human rights, sustainable economic opportunity and human development.

Egypt and Libya, two countries shaken by Arab Spring revolutions, have fallen the furthest in the rankings, while Tunisia, which started the wave of revolutions, has remained relatively stable.

Egypt has shown the biggest deterioration in overall governance over the past five years, dropping eight points to 51.1 out of 100. It is consequently down 14 places in the African rankings to 26th.

Neighbouring Libya drop­ped 7.4 points to 42.1, and 16 places in the rankings to 43rd.

The biggest riser in the index over the last five years has been Ivory Coast, up 7.8 points to 44.3, and rising six places in the index to 40th.

The top five countries in the 2014 index remained the same: Mauritius (81.7), Cape Verde (76.6), Botswana (76.2), South Africa (73.3) and Seychelles (73.2).

Published in Dawn, September 30th , 2014