UN News Centre - Africa

In July, a UN human rights officer embarked on an outreach visit to the Horn of Africa’s Sool and Sanaag regions, a seven-day round-trip of more than 1,600 kilometres by road.

Armed groups in the Central African Republic (CAR) must lay down their arms and engage in political dialogue, a UN-appointed independent human rights expert said on Friday, urging the international community to strengthen efforts to restore State authority and end impunity there.

Rising acute food insecurity in Somalia has caused more than 900,000 people to flee their homes in search of humanitarian assistance since January last year, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has warned.

The United Nations continues to engage with authorities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in the wake of the deadly shooting this past weekend involving peacekeepers from its Mission there, MONUSCO. 

Healthy life expectancy among Africans living in mainly high and upper middle-income countries on the continent, has increased by almost 10 years, the UN health agency, WHO, said on Thursday.

A powerful new sculpture unveiled at UN Headquarters on Wednesday honours the memory and mission of two human rights experts who were murdered in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) five years ago. 

Three UN-appointed independent human rights experts returned from Ethiopia on Tuesday after working to negotiate access to areas important for investigations.

The World Health Organization (WHO) warned on Tuesday that the Greater Horn of Africa is experiencing one of the worst hunger crises of the last 70 years.  

Northern Uganda suffers from a development gap with the rest of the country, with high rates of poverty and unemployment. UN News spoke to Dmitry Pozhidaev, head of the UN Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) office in Uganda, to find out what the agency is doing to improve funding access to individuals and businesses, and put them on the right path to success.

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) in Sudan has received a $100 million contribution from the World Bank to assist with critical emergency cash and food sustenance in Sudan.

The UN Secretary-General António Guterres has strongly condemned an attack on peacekeepers serving in the Stablization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) which took place during violent demonstrations at the mission’s base on Tuesday. Two Indian police officers and a Moroccan ‘blue helmet’ were killed, and an Egyptian police officer injured.

The overall situation in Libya remains “highly volatile”, Martha Pobee, UN Assistant Secretary-General for political affairs and peace operations, told the Security Council on Monday.

The killing of protestors by security services during large-scale demonstrations in Sudan’s capital Khartoum in June underscores the ongoing political tensions in the country. Against this backdrop, the UN is committed to sustain and build peace in Sudan, say UN Resident Coordinator Khardiata Lo Ndiaye, and Elizabeth Spehar, Assistant Secretary-General for Peacebuilding Support.

Over 50 million people in Eastern Africa will face acute food insecurity this year, according to a new study backed by the World Food Programme (WFP) and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

As conflict grows in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the rising death toll and suffering of displaced civilians through brutal attacks, is cause for serious concern said the UN refugee agency UNHCR on Friday, which appealed for fresh funds to meet "soaring needs" across the country.

Independent UN human rights experts on Thursday called on authorities and political candidates standing in next month’s general election to foster an enabling civic space to ensure the vote goes ahead peacefully, and prevent violence.

The development of Africa was spotlighted at a key UN meeting on Wednesday, with attention focused on advancing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the African Union (AU) Agenda 2063.    

After a two-year hiatus, the voluntary repatriation of refugees from Angola to their homeland in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has begun again, after the programme was put on hold in 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic led to long-term border closures.

An independent UN human rights expert on Monday hailed a decision by the African Court on Human and People’s Rights, to award reparations to the Ogiek indigenous peoples, for harm that they suffered due to “injustices and discrimination.”

A small, quiet village in Kenya has found a new purpose in the fishing industry through a successful marine coral conservation project, the first of its kind in the Marine Protected Areas of the western side of the Indian Ocean.