UN News Centre - Africa

Some 4.4 million people in Nigeria are facing what the UN humanitarian office, OCHA, is describing as “catastrophic food conditions”.

Senior UN officials appealed on Friday for immediate and unrestricted humanitarian access to Tigray – and for an end to deadly attacks on aid workers - as the Security Council held its first open meeting on the conflict in the restive northern Ethiopian region.

The World Food Programme (WFP) has resumed operations in Ethiopia’s Tigray region, after fighting halted the emergency response last week, although the agency warned on Friday that “serious challenges” continue to threaten the entire humanitarian response.  

With cases now doubling in Africa every three weeks, the Delta variant of COVID-19 has spread to 16 countries and it is present in three of the five nations reporting the highest caseloads. The variant is the most contagious yet - up to 60% more transmissible than other variants.

Rampant impunity for human rights violations in Mali is posing serious risks for the protection of civilians in the West African country, UN rights chief Michelle Bachelet said on Tuesday. 

Speaking in Nigeria, the UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed has emphasized the importance of prevention as “the only real, sustainable solution” to resolving the challenges thrown up by conflict.

The UN Children’s Fund, UNICEF, appealed on Thursday for urgent resources to support thousands of people who have fled armed violence in two small towns in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) over the past two months. 

Thousands of families in southern Madagascar are on the edge of starvation, and “holding on for dear life”, the UN food agency chief said on Wednesday - after bearing witness to the suffering firsthand - urging the world to step-up and take action.   

Defense forces, soldiers from nearby countries and other security personnel have been fighting an “asymmetric war” against armed groups, sparking an “unprecedented humanitarian crisis”, the top UN official in the country told the Security Council on Wednesday.

Full implementation of a historic ceasefire agreement and the withdrawal of foreign forces are critical for consolidating peace in Libya, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said on Wednesday in remarks to a major international meeting aimed at shoring up the country after a decade of civil conflict. 

South Sudan, the UN’s youngest Member State, is marking its tenth anniversary of independence amid languishing political progress and a range of humanitarian challenges, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative told Security Council members on Monday.

The citizens of the Central African Republic (CAR) have endured decades of war and conflict. Merveille Yayoro, a young reporter at Guira-FM, the radio station run by the UN peacekeeping mission in the country (MINUSCA), says that she wants her work to provide an antidote to hate speech and misinformation, and help bring about a lasting peace.

Civilians continue to flee armed conflict and insecurity in northern Mozambique, more than two months after militants attacked the coastal city of Palma, located in Cabo Delgado province, UN agencies reported on Friday. 

The head of the World Food Programme (WFP) appealed on Thursday for immediate access to deliver lifesaving assistance to Ethiopia’s Tigray region, where ongoing fighting between government and regional forces has put some 350,000 people at risk of famine.  

The international community must stay focused on achieving justice and peace for the people of Darfur, the outgoing Prosecutor at the International Criminal Court (ICC) told the Security Council on Wednesday. 

The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and partners are working to restore water supply to roughly 200,000 people, including some 100,000 children, affected by the volcanic eruption last month in Goma, in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). 

Attacks by armed groups including Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province pose grave threats to Central Africa’s fragile stability, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative told the Security Council on Monday, while spotlighting crucial democratic gains that must be protected.

Communities in rural Burkina Faso urgently need greater protection from violent extremists, the UN human rights office, OHCHR, insisted on Monday, in response to a deadly assault at the weekend that claimed the lives of at least 132 innocent people.

A Ugandan woman entrepreneur who was left with just a wheelbarrow and a red dress, when a business partner ran off with all her money has been recognized with an award by the UN trade agency (UNCTAD) after she grew her company into a nationwide enterprise with five million customers.

Critical health facilities across Africa risk being overwhelmed by surging COVID-19 infections, the UN health agency said on Thursday.