UN News Centre - Africa

The head of the United Nations food relief agency today welcomed the progress made by the humanitarian community and the Government of Nigeria in fighting hunger and malnutrition in the West African country’s north-east.

The newly arrived head of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan, David Shearer, has met with President Salva Kiir in the country’s capital of Juba, where he reiterated the Mission’s commitment to supporting peace efforts.

A major vaccination campaign against a measles outbreak in northeast Nigeria is reaching 4.7 million children, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

The United Nations Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM) has condemned the coordinated suicide bombing attack earlier today at a hotel in Mogadishu for which Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility and which reportedly killed dozens of people.

Amid rising tensions in Central African Republic’s Ouaka prefecture and in and around its town of Bambari, a senior UN humanitarian official in the country has appealed for calm and refraining from any act that could further increase the fragility of an already vulnerable population.

The United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) today condemned the attack on its camp in the country’s restive northern region of Kidal, which left one ‘blue helmet’ dead and two others seriously wounded.

Spotlighting the desperate plight of millions in Africa’s Lake Chad basin, the top United Nations humanitarian official for the Sahel region called today for international solidarity with the people in urgent need.

The United Nations, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the African Union (AU) have commended the &#8220goodwill and the statesmanship&#8221 of the former President of The Gambia, Yahya Jammeh, who decided to facilitate an immediate and orderly transition process and transfer of power to President Adama Barrow.

Strongly condemning all terrorist attacks in West Africa, particularly those carried out by Boko Haram militants in the Lake Chad Basin, the United Nations Security Council today stressed the need to combat terrorism in all its forms and to address the conditions conducive to its spread.

At least 45,000 people &#8211 mostly women and children &#8211 have arrived in Senegal from The Gambia after former President Yahya Jammeh&#39s decided to not step down, United Nations agencies today said warning that more people may leave if the political situation is not resolved peacefully.

With conflict in South Sudan now entering its fourth year and its people facing dire humanitarian challenges, the United Nations refugee agency has revised upwards its funding requirements for 2017 to address new needs of those who have been displaced due to renewed fighting, increased violence and resulting food insecurity since July last year.

A United Nations human rights expert today welcomed the decision of President Barack Obama to lift most sanctions unilaterally imposed by the United States on Sudan.

Urging all Gambian parties to respect the outcome of the 1 December election recognizing Adama Barrow as the country’s President-elect, the United Nations Security Council today expressed its support for the commitment of West African States to “ensure, by political means first, respect of the will of the people.”

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has strongly condemned the suicide-vehicle attack earlier today perpetrated against a military camp in the northern Mali city of Gao that reportedly left at least 50 people dead and dozens injured.

United Nations humanitarian helicopter and emergency medical personnel are in north-eastern Nigeria following a military airstrike that hit a displacement camp killing dozens of people, including aid workers, and wounding a reported 100 others.

Faced with a &#39slight but steady&#39 increase in the number of people in need, the humanitarian community in Somalia launched today an $864 million to reach 3.9 million people with urgent life-saving assistance, the United Nations relief wing reported.

On the heels of failed rains and a calamitous El Niño in Ethiopia, the country&#39s Government today launched an appeal for $948 million to urgently address food and non-food needs, while the United Nations agriculture agency warned that a new drought may put the East African nation&#39s hard fought gains at risk.

Hundreds of people were killed in South Sudan during an outbreak of violence last July and more than 200 people were raped, according to a United Nations report today released which emphasizes the need for accountability and justice for those human rights violations.

The United Nations peacekeeping mission in South Sudan has confirmed that it continues its discussions with the transitional national unity Government on a 4,000-strong regional protection force, which was authorized by the Security Council last August but has yet to be deployed.

The Government of the Central African Republic (CAR) and the United Nations humanitarian country team today launched the nearly $400 million response plan for the 2017-2019 period to meet the basic needs of 2.2 million Central Africans.