Africa

Rows of temporary shelters covered in sheeting which has been blanched by the sun and sand blasted by winds blend into the grey, dusty and parched environment. It’s midday, and temperatures have reached a punishingly hot and dry 44 degrees Celsius (111 F).

The United Nations General Assembly declared 3 May is World Press Freedom Day, but what does that mean?

The number of terrorist attacks in the Sahel region of Africa “continues to increase” according to the UN Secretary-General António Guterres, who arrived in the capital of Niger, Niamey, on Monday, the second of three countries he is visiting on a tour of West Africa to mark the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Joice Zau is determined to carry on despite being threatened for "telling the truth" in Angola.

The war in Ukraine is aggravating a “triple food, energy and financial crisis,” across Africa, according to the UN Secretary-General António Guterres.

Nathan, who was born with cerebral palsy, is able to do family activities with the help of dad Meekeh's inventions.

Mali’s ban on two major international broadcasters operating inside the country is a worrying development in itself but it also reflects growing regional intolerance towards freedom of expression, the UN rights office, OHCHR, said on Friday.

Recent intercommunal violence in areas of West Darfur, Sudan, that has left scores dead, including two health workers, must stop immediately, a senior official with the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday. 

An Ebola vaccination campaign has begun in northwest Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), to halt the spread of a deadly new outbreak in the country, where the disease is endemic.

Ethiopia’s eastern Somali Region has been hit by three consecutive below-average rainy seasons, worsening the already deteriorating humanitarian situation for around 3.5 million people, more than half the local population.

Additional peacekeepers have been deployed to Leer county, South Sudan, following a surge of violence, including rapes, gang rapes, beheadings, burning civilians alive, and attacks on humanitarians, the UN Mission in the country, UNMISS, reported on Monday. 

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the past year has seen “significant breakthroughs in malaria prevention and control”, a senior official of the UN health agency said on Monday, World Malaria Day.

Although the overall security situation in the disputed Abyei region between Sudan and South Sudan has remained calm, the “trust deficit” between the two main communities continues to be a great concern, UN Peacekeeping chief Jean-Pierre Lacroix told the Security Council on Thursday.

Three weeks have passed since some 500 people were allegedly summarily executed in Moura, a village in central Mali – and UN investigators have yet to be granted access, the UN rights office, OHCHR, said on Wednesday. 

The top UN humanitarian official in the Central African Republic (CAR) on Wednesday underlined the need for safe access to vulnerable people following two recent attacks against aid organizations operating in the south of the country. 

Up to 20 million people could go hungry this year as delayed rains worsen extreme drought in the Horn of Africa region amid a shortfall in humanitarian aid, the World Food Programme (WFP) said on Tuesday. 

The UN has allocated $100 million to fight hunger in Africa and the Middle East as the spillover effects of the war in Ukraine threaten to push millions even closer to famine. 

COVID-19 cases in Africa have fallen for the past 16 weeks, and deaths have dropped during the last eight, marking the longest-running decline in infections on the continent since the start of the pandemic, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday. 

The conflict in Ukraine is driving up global food and fuel prices which is affecting efforts to feed millions in West Africa, where hunger levels have reached a 10-year high, the World Food Programme (WFP) reported on Thursday. 

Millions of displaced families across eastern Africa will fall deeper into hunger as food rations dwindle due to humanitarian resources being stretched to the limit as the world grapples with a toxic cocktail of conflict, climate shocks, and COVID-19, UN humanitarians warned on Wednesday.