UN News Centre - Africa

Citing efforts to provide humanitarian assistance to children in Sudan who are affected by the war in South Sudan, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) stressed the huge demand and urgency of receiving more financial support to continue its relief work in the Country.

The United Nations Peacebuilding Commission has called on all stakeholders in Central African Republic (CAR) to help promote an environment conducive to holding elections ahead of the country’s upcoming parliamentary vote.

The Central Africa region is still facing many challenges, including an economic crisis aggravated by the drop in oil prices, rising youth unemployment, and terrorist activities, as well as the cross-border impact of crises in Central African Republic (CAR) and Burundi, the Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for the sub-region warned today.

The number of Ebola cases in West Africa has increased for the second straight week, with the number of cases that arose from unknown sources of infection highlighting the challenges still faced in finding and eliminating every chain of transmission, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

Amid “very encouraging signs” in the United Nations-facilitated Libyan political dialogue, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative on the North African nation today said that “time has come to make an agreement” and if possible, before or at the beginning of Ramadan, which begins on 17 June.

Despite considerable advances made in the global response to the AIDS epidemic over the last several decades, young women and adolescent girls in Africa “are still being left behind,” according to a new joint report from the United Nations and the African Union.

The security situation in Darfur is a very serious one, marked by a “deeply concerning” increase in violent attacks by armed assailants against United Nations peacekeepers and humanitarian personnel, the Assistant Secretary-General for UN peacekeeping operations told the Security Council today.

Smallholder farmers in Uganda have made impressive progress in grain harvest and storage, thanks to a World Food Programme (WFP) investment plan which aims at improving their agricultural practices and market access.

For Côte d’Ivoire, the October presidential election represents an important milestone in the consolidation of the hard-won gains of recent years, the United Nations envoy for the West African country today told the Security Council today, outlining a very different environment from 2010, but nevertheless advocating for a continued UN presence there.

When Joseph Agbor Effim arrived in Mali in early 2014, he was deployed to the northern town of Kidal, which had been the scene of clashes between rebels and Government forces. His mission: to participate in efforts to find a lasting solution to the crisis in the country, and particularly to ensure that the rights of detainees are respected.

Telling stakeholders in Libya’s dialogue that “mothers across [the country] have their eyes on you,” the United Nations envoy for Libya presented draft political proposal and said that the time had finally come for the parties to take the difficult decision to make peace and begin the process towards national reconciliation.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today welcomed with relief the release of two United Nations-African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) contractors who were abducted in Zalingei, Central Darfur, Sudan, on 29 January.

An armed group opened fire on a convoy transporting Eritrean asylum-seekers in eastern Sudan and kidnapped 14 of them, including six boys and one girl, the United Nations refugee agency reported today and urged the Sudanese Government to spare no effort in apprehending those responsible and bringing them to account.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has begun distributing the first batches of 700,000 teaching and learning kits to thousands of schools across Liberia, where last year’s Ebola outbreak disrupted the education of over one million children.

The United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) announced today that the next round of Libyan political dialogue sessions in Skhirat, Morocco, will commence on Monday, 8 June.

The human rights situation in Boko Haram-held areas of northern Nigeria is one of “absolute terror” and “grave” violations, the top United Nations human rights official said today amid a wider call for Nigerian authorities to thoroughly investigate reports of abuses committed by the country’s armed forces.

The United Nations peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) has welcomed the latest military operation by the country’s armed forces against members of an independent militia group following the collapse of political negotiations.

The United Nations peacekeeping mission in the Central African Republic (CAR) has launched an investigation into allegations of sexual abuse against an underage person involving one of its personnel, it was announced today.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon remains concerned about the potential for escalating violence in Burundi and has reiterated his call for calm and restraint amid the African country’s simmering political tensions.

The United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) today reported an increase in the intensity and geographic area of Ebola transmission in Guinea and Sierra Leone, warned that the onset of the rainy season &#8220from now onwards&#8221 will make field operations more difficult and noted that community engagement remains a challenge in both countries.