UN News Centre - Africa

A delegation from the United Nations Security Council today arrived in South Sudan, where it will reinforce recent messages made to the authorities as well as discuss how the UN peacekeeping mission there can help them improve the security and humanitarian situation in the wake of recent violence.

A United Nations human rights expert today said that despite all the success in tackling crimes against persons with albinism in Mozambique, their situation remains precarious as the authorities have yet to identify and arrest the masterminds behind such crimes.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has taken note of yesterday&#39s launch of the national dialogue in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and urged more inclusive process towards elections, his spokesman said today.

A delegation from the United Nations Security Council is expected to visit South Sudan this week.

On the eve of the presidential election in Gabon, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today encouraged all Gabonese to vote responsibly and urged the candidates and other political stakeholders to abstain from any acts of incitement and maintain a peaceful atmosphere before, during and after the election.

The United Nations envoy for Liberia today stressed the need for long-term, robust engagement by stakeholders, particularly the Security Council, towards a sustainable peace in the West African country.

The United Nations Special Adviser on Prevention of Genocide, Adama Dieng, has expressed concern at inflammatory statements concerning the genocide in Rwanda that were made by a senior official of the ruling party in Burundi and cautioned that such statements could constitute incitement to violence.

Years of violence by Boko Haram in Africa’s Lake Chad basin, which includes Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad and Niger, have led to a worsening humanitarian crisis that has displaced 1.4 million children and left at least one million still trapped in hard-to-reach areas, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said in a report released today.

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has deplored the death in custody of Ebrima Solo Kurumah, a member of the opposition United Democratic Party (UDP), last Saturday, a spokesperson for the Office said.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today appointed Major General (retired) Patrick Cammaert of the Netherlands to lead an independent special investigation into the violence in South Sudan’s capital, Juba, in July 2016, and the response of the UN mission in the country (UNMISS).

Noting today’s meeting of the national dialogue preparatory committee in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon reiterated a call for an inclusive political dialogue to overcome an impasse in the electoral process.

As part of this year’s commemoration of World Humanitarian Day (WHD), the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs launched a photography exhibition in New York entitled “When I Grow Up.” By photographing African children aged six to 18 – whose young lives have already been beleaguered with hardships – photographer Vincent Tremeau documented their aspirations by capturing each dressed in the clothing of the adult they aspire to be.

The number of people in need of food assistance in north-eastern Nigeria has nearly doubled to 4.5 million from March, according to a mid-August analysis by various agencies including the World Food Programme (WFP).

The United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) is ramping up its response in north-eastern Nigeria, where initial assessments have revealed urgent health problems among populations in areas formerly held by Boko Haram insurgents.

An alleged Malian Islamist accused of destroying historical and religious monuments in the fabled city of Timbuktu pleaded guilty in the first-ever international war crimes trial focusing on destruction of cultural heritage, the International Criminal Court (ICC) announced on the opening day of the landmark case, which was welcomed by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

With Africa still accounting for more than 90 per cent of global malaria deaths in 2015, the United Nations health agency’s member States in the region have adopted a new framework on implementing a strategy towards a malaria-free continent.

Voicing concern over serious human rights violations in the Oromia and Amhara regions of Ethiopia earlier this month, the United Nations human rights chief today urged the Government to ensure access for independent observers to affected areas and to work towards opening up political and democratic reforms.

The United Nations Security Council today expressed regret over a postponed timeline for this year’s parliamentary and presidential elections in Somalia, calling on all stakeholders to follow the revised 2016 electoral calendar “without further delay.”

The United Nations refugee agency said today that it is increasingly alarmed at the unfolding situation in north-east Nigeria where the advancing military campaign against Boko Haram has exposed “catastrophic” levels of suffering among a population outside humanitarian reach over months or years.

Reporting that 650 children have been recruited into armed groups in South Sudan since January, the United Nations Children&#39s Fund (UNCEF) called today for an immediate end to recruitment and an unconditional release of all children by armed actors.