UN News Centre - Africa

Following the first executions in Chad since 2003, the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) today deeply regretted the resumption of the death penalty in that country and called for an official moratorium on its use.

The top UN official in Somalia, Nicholas Kay, has strongly condemned today’s attack by Al Shabaab militants on an African Union Mission (AMISOM) base at Janaale, Lower Shabelle Region manned by troops from the Ugandan contingent.

The detection of a new case of Ebola in Sierra Leone over the weekend after the West African country had marked almost three weeks of zero cases has prompted the use of an experimental vaccine to fight the disease, according to the United Nations World Health Organization (WHO).

Somalia’s humanitarian situation remains “alarming” four years after a devastating famine with the number of people requiring emergency aid rising 17 per cent to more than 850,000 and those in “food-stressed” situations still at 2.3 million, according to the latest United Nations-managed food assessment study released today.

Welcoming the recent signature by President Salva Kiir, SPLM/SPLA-IO Chairman Riek Machar and others of the Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan, the Security Council today called on all the parties, with the help of the United Nations, to implement the accord and adhere to the permanent ceasefire.

A group of independent United Nations human rights experts have voiced alarm after a female Sudanese student was sentenced to public flogging and a heavy fine for charges of “indecent dressing,” while another received a hefty fine for the same charges, and urged that the convictions be overturned immediately.

With Guinea-Bissau facing political turbulence barely a year after the re-establishment of constitutional order, the top United Nations official there expressed hope today that political leaders would rise to their “historic responsibility” to preserve the gains made so far in the interest of the country and people.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) announced today that 163 children have been released by an armed group in the Central African Republic, where thousands of other boys and girls are still serving as combatants, cooks and messengers for the country’s militant factions.

Fifteen years after the signing of a landmark Burundi peace accord, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today called on all the country’s political leaders, including those in exile, to find common cause and commit to build on the stability that was ushered in by the Arusha Agreement.

As the battle against cholera outbreak continues in South Sudan, the United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) and its partners are boosting assistance to help children and the most vulnerable prevent and reduce the spread of further cases.

The deadly Ebola outbreak which ravaged West Africa for more than a year has demonstrated the increasing importance of emergency preparedness both in Africa and across the world, said two senior United Nations health officials who noted that if the current intense focus on case detection and contact tracing is maintained, the virus could be “soundly defeated” by year’s end.

The latest round of the United Nations-facilitated Libyan political dialogue has concluded in Geneva, with the different parties emphasizing the need to set aside partisan agendas and uphold the country’s higher national interests.

The United Nations Security Council today called on all of Guinea-Bissau’s political leadership to resume dialogue in order to work together in the governance of the country as it emerges from previous periods of instability.

The Government of Burundi should immediately seize the opportunity for dialogue and forge a “new path,” United Nations and international envoys declared today, condemning the wave of recent attacks in the crisis-torn country and urging parties to show “restraint, leadership, and vision.”

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today announced the appointment of Farid Zarif, of Afghanistan, as his Special Representative for Liberia and head of the United Nations Mission there, known as UNMIL.

Vowing “decisive action” on reports of sexual exploitation committed by United Nations peacekeepers deployed to the Central African Republic (CAR), Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced that he has accepted the resignation of the head of the UN peacekeeping mission in the country, scheduled a special session of the Security Council on the matter, and pledged the Organization’s commitment to bringing any and all perpetrators of such abuse to justice.

Africa has made great strides towards eradicating polio but the job remains to be finished through strengthened immunization campaigns and surveillance measures, according to the United Nations.

United Nations-supported measures put in place to protect them from the Ebola virus have helped keep classrooms free from any infections in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said today.

The United Nations human rights office expressed deep concern over the reported release of detainees in Mali suspected of involvement in, or formally charged with, serious abuses, including war crimes, terrorist acts and gross human rights violations.

The capacity of the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) to fulfil its mandate rests on “persistent engagement” with the authorities, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General and head of the Mission, Martin Kobler, told the Security Council today.