UN News Centre - Africa

The United Nations in Somalia welcomed the conclusion of the country’s presidential election held on Sunday, praising the “positive” nature of the electoral process and peaceful transfer of power.

Humanitarians continue to call for scaling up assistance in the Horn of Africa, where the worst drought in 40 years is affecting some 15 million people across Kenya, Ethiopia, and Somalia. 

The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday that it is committed to helping the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), respond to COVID-19, after its first declared infection was reported in the media there.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres has urged authorities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to investigate deadly armed group attacks in Djugu Territory, Ituri Province, on Sunday.

Already reeling from COVID-19, the fighting in Ukraine has introduced significant and worrying new risks likely to heavily impact Africa, UN development experts warned on Friday.

A convoy carrying desperately needed humanitarian aid arrived in the capital of the restive Tigray region in northern Ethiopia this past weekend, the UN reported on Thursday. 

A veteran Cameroonian activist working to preserve her country’s forests, and improve the lives of people who depend on them, is the latest winner of a UN-backed international environmental prize. 

The “enormous challenges” faced by the northeastern Nigerian state of Borno, which include a continuing terrorist insurgency, need to be recognized by the international community to create what the UN Secretary-General has called a “state of hope and a state of reality”, in a region which he said did not live up to its reputation for “terrorism, violence, displacement or despair.”

Rows of temporary shelters covered in sheeting which has been blanched by the sun and sand blasted by winds blend into the grey, dusty and parched environment. It’s midday, and temperatures have reached a punishingly hot and dry 44 degrees Celsius (111 F).

The number of terrorist attacks in the Sahel region of Africa “continues to increase” according to the UN Secretary-General António Guterres, who arrived in the capital of Niger, Niamey, on Monday, the second of three countries he is visiting on a tour of West Africa to mark the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

The war in Ukraine is aggravating a “triple food, energy and financial crisis,” across Africa, according to the UN Secretary-General António Guterres.

Mali’s ban on two major international broadcasters operating inside the country is a worrying development in itself but it also reflects growing regional intolerance towards freedom of expression, the UN rights office, OHCHR, said on Friday.

Recent intercommunal violence in areas of West Darfur, Sudan, that has left scores dead, including two health workers, must stop immediately, a senior official with the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday. 

An Ebola vaccination campaign has begun in northwest Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), to halt the spread of a deadly new outbreak in the country, where the disease is endemic.

Ethiopia’s eastern Somali Region has been hit by three consecutive below-average rainy seasons, worsening the already deteriorating humanitarian situation for around 3.5 million people, more than half the local population.

Additional peacekeepers have been deployed to Leer county, South Sudan, following a surge of violence, including rapes, gang rapes, beheadings, burning civilians alive, and attacks on humanitarians, the UN Mission in the country, UNMISS, reported on Monday. 

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the past year has seen “significant breakthroughs in malaria prevention and control”, a senior official of the UN health agency said on Monday, World Malaria Day.

Although the overall security situation in the disputed Abyei region between Sudan and South Sudan has remained calm, the “trust deficit” between the two main communities continues to be a great concern, UN Peacekeeping chief Jean-Pierre Lacroix told the Security Council on Thursday.

Three weeks have passed since some 500 people were allegedly summarily executed in Moura, a village in central Mali – and UN investigators have yet to be granted access, the UN rights office, OHCHR, said on Wednesday. 

The top UN humanitarian official in the Central African Republic (CAR) on Wednesday underlined the need for safe access to vulnerable people following two recent attacks against aid organizations operating in the south of the country.