UN News Centre - Africa

The United Nations Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution today authorizing Member States, acting nationally or through regional organizations, to inspect vessels on the high seas off the coast of Libya they believe are carrying illicit weapons.

Small, fast growing wild fish could be crucial allies in the race to end hunger in some of the world&#39s most chronically poor and underfed regions, according to a new report by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) on fisheries in the drylands of sub-Saharan Africa.

The Security Council today decided to extend until 15 December 2016 the mandate of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL), encouraging the operation to re-establish a permanent presence in the country through a phased return.

On his first visit to Kenya, the chief of the United Nations refugee agency received assurances from the African country that the return of refugees to Somalia would not contravene international obligations.

The United Nations Special Adviser of the Secretary-General on the Prevention of Genocide has condemned the inflammatory speech by the President of the Gambia, Yahya Jammeh of the Gambia at a political rally this past week, in which he reportedly threatened to eliminate the Mandinka ethnic group.

Meeting today with Faustin Archange Touadéra, President of the Central African Republic (CAR), United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon noted that the country had turned a corner following the holding of democratic elections, and welcomed the leader&#39s resolve to fully address the root causes of the country&#39s crisis in an inclusive spirit.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has condemned yesterday&#39s attack on Ethiopian troops at an base of the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) in Halgan, Somalia.

New assessments of the protection risks faced by the affected people living in Nigeria’s restive north-eastern Borno state have concluded that women face a high risk of abuse in displacement sites, the United Nations humanitarian wing has reported.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has said he has taken note of the release earlier this week of a report by Human Rights Watch on the Central African Republic (CAR), stating that he shares the non-profit organization&#39s concerns regarding impunity for human rights violations.

Officials in Eritrea have committed crimes against humanity, including enslavement, rape and torture, across the country over the past 25 years, according to a new report released today by the United Nations Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in Eritrea.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said today it is concerned about the arrests, expulsions from school and injuries of students in Burundi schools, and has called for all parties involved in the political conflict in the country to fully respect the rights of children to education and to protect them from violence.

Tens of thousands of people have fled their homes in south-east Niger following near back-to-back attacks since this past Friday by Boko Haram insurgents on the town of Bosso in the troubled Diffa region, the United Nations refugee agency said today.

The top United Nations official for Libya today told the Security Council about the “tragic” humanitarian situation there, underlining that “personal tragedies and collective suffering” are the consequence of the continued lack of State authority in most parts of the North African country.

Four international organizations, including the United Nations, today reaffirmed their support to the political dialogue in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and called on all Congolese stakeholders to work towards its successful holding.

People living in the region of Diffa in Niger continue to be affected by insecurity related to activities by the terrorist group Boko Haram around the Lake Chad, according to reports by the United Nations relief wing.

The United Nations refugee agency today warned that tragically people are still fleeing violence in Sudan’s South Kordofan State, most crossing into neighbouring South Sudan, as the conflict marks its fifth year this weekend.

The United Nations Security Council today strongly condemned the deadly attack on 1 June 2016 perpetrated by Al-Shabaab militants on the Ambassador Hotel, Mogadishu.

Two United Nations agencies have joined forces to distribute seeds and agricultural tools to 200,000 refugees and their host communities across South Sudan, helping them become more self-sufficient in a country facing a serious food crisis.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has expressed his sadness over the death today of Mohamed Abdelaziz, who had led the Polisario Front independence movement in the Western Sahara as its leader since 1976.

In two separate incidents that took place yesterday in the Gao area of Mali’s restive north, terrorists attacked an outpost of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission (MINUSMA), as well as the services of a local provider for the UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS), the most recent in a string of deadly attacks against the UN in the country.