UN News Centre - Africa

The political impasse in Guinea-Bissau could delay implementation of critical reforms and erode progress in the West African country’s development, the United Nations envoy there warned the Security Council today.

The number of civilians fleeing the recent conflict in the Jebel Marra area in Sudan’s Darfur region has jumped to 73,000 from 38,000, according to United Nations estimates, as some 30,000 people flocked to Sortony, where the displaced have been gathering next to a base operated by the African Union-UN Mission in Darfur (UNAMID).

Across eastern and southern Africa, millions of children are at risk from malnutrition, hunger, water shortages and disease, the United Nations Children&#39s Fund (UNICEF) warned today, citing two years of erratic rain and drought combined with one of the most powerful El Niño events in the past 50 years.

After the identification of four cases of Lassa fever in Benin, the Government, backed by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has immediately launched started a response against the epidemic, the agencies announced today.

Warning that, in the last two weeks, a new escalation of violence has forced tens of thousands of civilians to flee their homes in the Jebel Marra area of Darfur, a United Nations human rights expert today called for an immediate end to hostilities that have triggered new protection and humanitarian concerns in the long-restive region of Sudan.

A consecration ceremony of the Timbuktu mausoleums, last held in the 11th century, was celebrated today at the initiative of the local community, the final phase of the United Nations-backed cultural rebirth of the age-old Sahara city after the destruction wrought by radical Islamists in 2012.

The United Nations Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA) reported today that it has identified seven new possible victims of sexual exploitation and abuse in the town of Bambari, just days after the UN revealed which countries&#39 troops have been accused of abusing minors.

A senior United Nations official has held talks with Somali leaders in Mogadishu, the capital, in a show of support for last month&#39s &#8220breakthrough&#8221 political achievement in selecting an electoral model to be used later this year in efforts to lead the Horn of Africa country out of decades of factional war.

Condemning in the strongest terms Saturday’s “horrific terrorist attacks” attributed to Boko Haram in northeastern Nigeria, which resulted in a large number of dead and wounded, the United Nations Security Council today called on all States to cooperate in bringing the perpetrators to justice.

The United Nations announced today that the Common Humanitarian Fund (CHF) in the Central African Republic (CAR) released $9 million for life-saving assistance to 2.3 million people who need urgent support, including those displaced by violence, returnees, refugees and vulnerable host communities.

Almost two months after its launch, a humanitarian appeal to aid 1.3 million vulnerable people in conflict-torn Libya is 99 per cent unfunded, a senior United Nations official for the North African country warned today, calling on the international community to step up to the plate.

The Government and people of Burundi should resolve the country&#39s months-long political crisis through inclusive dialogue, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said as he wrapped up three days of wide-ranging meetings with African Union (AU) leaders today, warning that the deteriorating situation in Burundi is &#8220a source of great concern, not only in the region, but in the continent and the world.&#8221

The international community must stand with the people of Ethiopia in their time of need, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today, urging donors gathered in Addis Ababa to step up assistance to the country, before heading to the drought-stricken region of Oromia where he witnessed first-hand efforts under way to battle the effects of one of the most powerful El Niño events in recorded history.

Expressing concern over the impact on vital remittances from diaspora countries into Somalia caused by “necessary but less considered counter-terrorism regulations,” United Nations rights experts today warned the measures may “severely affect the human rights” of Somali people, while urging regulation-setting governments to guarantee the flow of such funds.

The United Nations in Libya has expressed regret over the decision of the country’s Presidency Council to postpone the formation of a national unity government for 48 hours beyond the deadline set by a UN-facilitated political agreement, emphasizing that all efforts to combat and eliminate these terrorist groups must be led by the Libyan State.

With 14 million people facing hunger in southern Africa as the El Niño weather pattern, the worst in over three decades, exacerbates drought, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) warned today that it faces critical funding challenges in scaling up food and cash-based aid.

Welcoming positive political developments in West Africa, in particular the holding of peaceful elections in Nigeria, Togo, Burkina Faso, Guinea and Côte-d&#39Ivoire, members of the UN Security Council stressed the importance of the upcoming elections in Niger, Benin, Cabo Verde, Ghana and The Gambia to be &#8220free, fair, peaceful, inclusive and credible.&#8221

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today condemned the &#8220heinous terrorist attacks&#8221 carried out yesterday in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso&#39s capital, which resulted in more than 29 deaths and many other people wounded.

As the worst El Niño-induced drought has sparked a sharp deterioration in food security and massive drop in agricultural and pastoral production in Ethiopia, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) today presented a $50 million plan to assist agriculture- and livestock-dependent households and enhance their resilience.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today announced the appointment of Major General Hassen Ebrahim Mussa of Ethiopia as Force Commander of the UN Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA).