UN News Centre - Africa

With eight months remaining, the window of opportunity is closing for South Sudan to meet critical benchmarks required to complete its transition away from long-running civil conflict, the Special Representative for the country told the Security Council on Monday, pressing parties to the November 2018 peace deal, to implement their commitments in letter and spirit.

The resolution of a civil conflict fuelled-displacement crisis in Côte d'Ivoire, that at its height forced more than 300,000 people to flee to neighbouring countries and beyond, is “a welcome bright spot amid a rising global trend of forced displacement”, said the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, on Monday.

The UN World Food Programme, WFP, said on Monday that it will have no choice but to make further food ration cuts soon for refugees.

The Secretary-General strongly condemned on Sunday, an attack in Kidal, a city in northern Mali, against a convoy of UN peacekeepers that claimed the life of a blue helmet.

After two decades of dictatorship, The Gambia is on the road towards democracy and respect for human rights, The UN is working closely with the government on this journey, a process that involves facing up to the country’s violent past.

In Burkina Faso, UN humanitarians on Friday appealed to the international community for help, after attacks by armed groups forced thousands to flee their homes in the east of the country.

One-third of Sudan’s population, or 15 million people, are facing acute food insecurity, according to a new assessment released on Thursday by the World Food Programme (WFP). 

UN Secretary-General António Guterres has strongly condemned a weekend attack in Burkina Faso that left dozens of civilians dead and displaced scores more, his Spokesperson said on Wednesday. 

The reported use of live ammunition by security forces in Tanzania, against ethnic Maasai herders, and the death of a police officer, have been condemned by top UN-appointed independent rights experts.

Food assistance to 1.7 million people in South Sudan has been suspended, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) said on Tuesday, citing a funding crunch and rising needs.

Long-term uncertainty related to the length of the transition period in Mali has made it even more difficult to achieve progress on implementing the 2015 peace agreement, the top UN official in the country told the Security Council on Monday. 

The widespread exploitation of men, women, and children at a refugee camp in Malawi has been uncovered by the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the Malawian Police Service.

The UN issued a statement on Saturday calling for attacks on civilians by multiple armed groups in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to “immediately cease”.

Rose Mary Tiep, fled domestic abuse and the conflict in South Sudan five years ago. Today she is helping others through their trauma in an Ugandan refugee camp, as part of a UN-backed support programme.

The creator of a women-only rapid intervention team who leads riot control activities inside the Central African Republic’s biggest all male high-security prison, was named the winner of a prestigious new UN award on Tuesday.

An “explosion of child deaths” is likely and imminent in the Horn of Africa unless the international community takes immediate action to prevent a new hunger disaster, UN humanitarians warned on Tuesday.

The UN Secretary-General has condemned “in the strongest terms” a brutal attack on a Catholic church in southwest Nigeria at the weekend, which left at least 50 people dead and wounded dozens more.

The UN chief has called for military authorities in Sudan and civilian representatives and political leaders, to enter direct talks over the future of the country in “good faith”, following continued unrest.

Agnes-Josephine Kenderman, a Liberian teenage mother, is benefiting from a UN-backed initiative to empower young vulnerable girls, which includes training to help her make and sell pastries and other products.

Women and girls face “deadly consequences” in the Somali region of Ethiopia due to the worst drought conditions for forty years, according to the United Nations Population Fund, UNFPA.