UN News Centre - Africa

In the deadliest shipwreck recorded so far this year, at least 140 people have drowned after a vessel carrying around 200 migrants sank off the Senegalese coast, the UN migration agency confirmed on Thursday.

The UN Secretary-General has called on everyone involve inTanzania's political process to ensure that Wednesday’s general elections are held in a safe, inclusive and peaceful manner, amid reports of intimidation and harassment of political opponents, journalists and activists. 

Africa needs to prepare better for climate change by responding to a wide range of potential risks, a multi-agency report led by the UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said on Monday, the first in a series of continent-by-continent assessments.

The UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) has announced the launch of the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum, following the signing of a permanent ceasefire agreement in the strife-torn country. 

The United Nations has strongly condemned Saturday’s attack on a school in southwestern Cameroon, which claimed the lives of eight children, and wounded another twelve. 

Warring parties in Libya on Friday agreed an historic ceasefire, which was hailed by the head of the UN Support Mission in the country (UNSMIL), who led the mediation, as a courageous act that can help secure a “a better, safer, and more peaceful future for all the Libyan people”.

Despite the strengthening of the relationship between Sudan and South Sudan, little progress has been made regarding the disputed Abyei region, the head of UN Peacekeeping told the Security Council on Thursday. 

The UN Secretary-General on Wednesday said he was closely following recent developments across Nigeria, in the wake of reports that protesters had been shot dead and wounded, and called for “an end to reported police brutality and abuses.” 

The world must act now to reverse the situation in Africa’s central Sahel region, where humanitarian needs are at “a breaking point”, UN Secretary-General António Guterres told a high-level conference on Tuesday to address the burgeoning crisis. 

Unless access is urgently granted to humanitarian organizations, thousands in the Central Sahel will be “pushed into further destitution”, the UN emergency food relief agency warned on Monday.  

On the eve of the presidential elections in Guinea, the UN Secretary-General has called on all national stakeholders to ensure that the polls are conducted in an inclusive and peaceful manner. 

Twelve migrants have died and others are missing after being thrown off a boat by smugglers off the coast of Djibouti in the Horn of Africa, the UN International Organization for Migration (IOM) has reported. 

Around four million girls worldwide suffer female genital mutilation every year. Although it is forbidden in Kenya, COVID-19 has led some families to revive itthe traditional practice, and a UN-supported phone helpline for victims of gender-based violence in the country has seen a big rise in calls since the pandemic hit.

A surge in armed violence, coupled with the economic and social fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, are contributing to worsening conditions for children in the Central Sahel, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) reported on Friday. 

Authorities in Mali are being urged to act swiftly to apprehend those responsible for two separate attacks on Thursday against peacekeepers serving with the UN Mission in the country, MINUSMA. 

Even as they confront the COVID-19 pandemic, countries in Africa’s Great Lakes Region continue to improve political, security and economic cooperation in line with a 2013 Framework agreement, UN Special Envoy Huang Xia told the Security Council on Tuesday. 

Farmers in Malawi who are struggling with the dual threats of climate change and an economic crisis worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic, are learning how to more accurately predict the weather and prepare for the eventuality of natural disasters, thanks to a project supported by the UN Development Programme (UNDP).

A woman in her 70s whose daughter was killed and whose grandchildren were abducted during two decades of conflict and insecurity in Uganda, has been speaking about how religion has helped her to find a meaning in life.

Mali’s transitional President has appointed a new Prime Minister, the UN’s top official in the West African country told the UN Security Council on Thursday, detailing the significant events which has ushered in a new political era, since the 18 August coup d’état.

The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) has strongly condemned an attack, on the night of 4 October, targeting a convoy carrying internally displaced persons in Burkina Faso, in which 25 people were killed.