UN News Centre - Africa

The latest flare-up of Ebola in Sierra Leone is over, the United Nations health agency today reported, but cautioned that the West African region remains at risk and should remain on alert.

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has announced that &#8211 for the first time &#8211 it would not suspend relief operations to vulnerable people in Zimbabwe during the spring and summer but continue food and cash assistance throughout the year.

The United Nations is sending a very strong signal that the days of silence and compromission with behaviour related to sexual exploitation and abuse by its troops are over, according to the UN envoy in the Central African Republic (CAR).

With a &#8220triple peril&#8221 of environmental degradation, poverty and insecurity facing the Sahel, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today during a visit to Mauritania that improving the situation in the region is a top priority for the United Nations.

The United Nations today, in a joint statement with other multilateral organizations, welcomed the final results of the second round of the presidential elections in the Central African Republic (CAR) announced earlier this week, congratulating President-elect Faustin-Archange Touadéra.

The destruction of cultural heritage is a violation of human rights, a United Nations-appointed expert said today, as the international criminal tribunal began a pre-trial procedure for the first-ever case in which charges were brought against the destruction of cultural and religious sites.

Burkina Faso is making a solid comeback, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today in the country&#39s capital, Ouagadougou, where he praised the Burkinabe Government and people for their perseverance during a series of tests in recent years, and who with UN support, are firmly on a path to consolidating democratic gains and ensure sustainable development.

Expressing deep concern about the upsurge in fighting between the Sudanese Government forces and a rebel group in Darfur, United Nations Secretary-General ban Ki-moon today called for freedom of movement for UN peacekeepers and humanitarian actors in their continued efforts to protect and support the affected civilians.

Libya needs to move ahead now or risk division and collapse, the top United Nations official in the country warned the UN Security Council today, while presenting the latest report on political and humanitarian developments.

Three years of conflict and ongoing displacements in the Central African Republic (CAR) continue to disrupt agriculture and severely constrain people&#39s access to food, as they struggle with the effects of multiple poor harvests, disrupted markets and soaring prices for many staple foods, two United Nations agencies warned today.

The United Nations joined the African Union today hailing the inaugural &#39Africa Day of School Feeding,&#39 as part of a key strategy to address the continent&#39s development challenges through home-grown school meal programmes.

With the provisional results being released after a slate of elections in Comoros, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today urged the candidates and all the other actors and institutions involved in the electoral process to play by the rules and refrain from the use of violence.

The United Nations deputy humanitarian chief today called on all parties to the conflict in South Sudan to protect civilians and grant safe and unhindered humanitarian access as she wrapped up a two-day visit to the African country.

The United Nations Special Envoy for Syria has strongly condemned bombings in two Syrian cities earlier today that resulted in more than 100 people killed or injured, including children.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has commended the peaceful holding of elections in the Central African Republic (CAR) this past Sunday, calling for the timely holding of the second round of legislative elections to complete the political transition process.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has welcomed the progress made by the people of the Comoros in preparations for presidential elections and polls for island governors on Sunday.

Addressing billions of illicit financial outflows from Africa is imperative as the continent needs domestic resources for its development, said the former President of South Africa, Thabo Mbeki, who chairs a United Nations panel on the issue, urging the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and partner institutions to elaborate relevant action plans.

With senior United Nations officials warning of escalating inter-communal violence and rampant human rights violations in South Sudan, the Security Council today strongly condemned all attacks and provocations against civilians and the UN by armed actors, and called for calm on all sides.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has condemned the violence that broke out overnight and continued today in the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) civilian protection site in Malakal, in the northeast region of the country, claiming the lives of at least seven internally displaced persons and injuring approximately 40 others so far.

The United Nations and its international partner organizations said they are closely following the situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), particularly in view of the upcoming elections in the country.