UN News Centre - Africa

The United Nations envoy for the Great Lakes region today highlighted the challenges posed by armed groups which continue to threaten the region&#39s stability and called for concerted efforts to avert any reversal of the commendable gains it has achieved thus far.

Addressing the National Assembly of the Central African Republic (CAR) today, United Nations Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson told the legislators that the country’s people had given them a clear mandate, and as such, he urged them not only to play their traditional role as parliamentarians, “but also as defenders of dialogue and reconciliation.”

Three United Nations agencies operating in Algeria appealed today for continued donor support for refugees from Western Sahara, warning that insufficient funding makes imminent a cut in basic food rations.

In light of the “serious shortcomings” revealed by an independent inquiry into the response of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) after violence broke out in and around its premises in the capital, Juba, in July, Secretary-General Ban Ki moon will introduce a raft of measures to bolster its protection of civilians, including through greater accountability of uniformed and civilian personnel.

In a telephone conversation with President Jacob Zuma of South Africa, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon regretted the country&#39s decision to withdraw from the International Criminal Court and expressed hope that it would reconsider the decision before the withdrawal takes effect.

Denouncing recent violence and increasing tensions in parts of the Central African Republic (CAR), in particular the town of Bambari, resulting in the deaths of 25 individuals, the United Nations mission in the country has called for an end to the attacks and reprisals as well as appealed for dialogue to resolve the situation.

Eritrean officials have committed crimes against humanity since 1991, including enslavement, imprisonment, enforced disappearances, torture, other inhumane acts, persecution, rape and murder, a member of the former United Nations Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in the country reported to UN Member States.

The impact of severe El Niño-induced drought on crop production in southern Madagascar, where nearly 850,000 people are acutely food insecure, is likely to persist into 2017 and requires an intensified humanitarian response, the United Nations agriculture agency said today.

With nearly 400,000 children facing starvation in Nigeria, and citizens suffering with little to no protection, security, food or access to clean water, “Nigeria is facing the worst humanitarian crisis on the African continent,” Peter Lundberg, the acting United Nations Deputy Humanitarian Coordinator, warned today.

An alarming rise in hate speech and incitement to violence against certain ethnic groups in South Sudan has prompted the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, to issue a warning that if the community and political leaders at the highest levels do not rein it in, mass atrocities in the country could erupt.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has condemned the outbreak of violence, on 24 October, in the Central African Republic&#39s capital, Bangui, that killed at least four civilians and injured nine others.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has regretted the decision of the South African Government to withdraw from the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) and expressed hope that the country will reconsider its decision before the withdrawal takes effect.

Some 18 people have been killed and 60 injured due to ongoing fighting in Gaalkacyo, Somalia, over the past two weeks, according to the United Nations humanitarian wing, which also reported today that more than 75,000 people have been displaced, though local authorities have indicated that the number could be higher as more people continue to flee the violence.

The head of the United Nations peacekeeping operation in South Sudan, Ellen Margrethe Løj, has informed Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon that she will be stepping down at the end of November after more than two years of leading the Mission.

State agents, such as police and armed forces, used excessive – including lethal – force during demonstrations in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), last month, when at least 53 people were killed over two days, 143 injured and more than 299 unlawfully arrested, a United Nations preliminary investigation revealed today.

United Nations Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson today said that the Central African Republic (CAR) can focus on stabilization, reconciliation and reconstruction now that the country has emerged from one of the worst crises of its history and was trying to establish legitimate institutions.

The United Nations Security Council has welcomed a recent inclusive dialogue, convened in Conakry by Alpha Condé, the President of Guinea, that involved political leaders, civil society and religious communities of Guinea-Bissau as part of a regional efforts to end the political crisis in the country.

Following a report that more than half of the population in southern Madagascar – 840,000 people – is experiencing alarming rates of food insecurity, United Nations agencies are responding to the most severe cases of malnutrition and acute hunger to prevent a catastrophe.

The United Nations food relief agency is providing emergency aid to 8,000 people affected by an upsurge in violence in the north of the Central African Republic (CAR), in addition to regular food and nutrition support for some 120,000 people.

Voicing serious concern over recent intensified crackdown by the Mauritanian Government on the imprisoned anti-slavery activists, a group of United Nations human rights experts today urged the authorities to ensure a fair hearing and provide needed medical treatment for the detainees.