UN News Centre - Africa

The United Nations envoy for Africa&#39s Great Lakes region encouraged today the countries of the region, and the UN Security Council, to help strengthen the fight against illegal armed groups in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and its neighbours, particularly as elements of the former M23 rebel group have resurfaced.

The use of children, particularly girls, by the Boko Haram terrorist group in violent attacks in the Lake Chad region has seen an &#8220alarming&#8221 surge in 2017, the United Nations Children&#39s Fund (UNICEF) has reported.

Critical investments in agriculture and climate change relief are needed to address the crisis in Africa’s strife-torn Lake Chad Basin, where hunger, poverty and a lack of rural development prevail, the United Nations food security agency said today.

Hundreds of migrants along North African migrant routes are being bought and sold openly in modern day ‘slave markets’ in Libya, survivors have told the United Nations migration agency, which warned that these reports “can be added to a long list of outrages” in the country.

Warning of increasing risk of mass deaths from starvation in many countries in Africa and in Yemen due to worsening drought and conflict, the United Nations refugee agency has called for international support to prevent the repeat of the 2011 tragedy in the Horn of Africa that claimed more than 260,000 lives.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres and the Security Council today condemned the bombings of two Coptic churches in Tanta and Alexandria, Egypt, which killed at least 41 people and injured more than 100 others.

Following recent attacks on civilians and aid workers in South Sudan, the top United Nations humanitarian official in the country today called on the Government and the opposition to protect civilians and ensure the safety and security of humanitarians.

Marking the twenty-third anniversary of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, during which Hutu and others who opposed the genocide were also killed, United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres today said the only way to honour the memory of the victims is to ensure such events never happen again.

The United Nations emergency food agency resumed rations this month to refugees in Kenya&#39s Dadaab and Kakuma camps, but cautioned that there is not enough funding to also provide cash transfers through the summer.

Host communities and aid agencies in Uganda are struggling to feed and shelter new refugees who have been displaced following a spike in violence in parts of neighbouring South Sudan&#39s Eastern Equatoria province, the United Nations refugee agency said today.

The Security Council today extended the mandate of the United Nations mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) for another year but reduced the number of troops.

Welcoming the Somali Federal Parliament’s approval of a new cabinet, the United Nations envoy for the country expressed hope that the new Government will be able to address the challenges confronting the Horn of Africa nation.

The ongoing conflict in South Sudan is affecting food security in some of the country&#39s more &#8220stable&#8221 states, the head of United Nations peacekeeping operation there has said.

As the spectre of famine hangs once again over Somalia, early numbers show an increasing number of children suffering from severe acute malnutrition and cholera or acute watery diarrhoea – a combination that killed many children in the famine of 2011, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said today.

With a new outbreak of violence erupting in the Central African Republic (CAR), a senior United Nations humanitarian official today urged warring parties to protect vulnerable civilian populations as a matter of priority and ensure free movements of relief aid workers.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has confirmed the deaths of Michael Sharp and Zaida Catalan, two members of the Group of Experts on the Democratic Republic of the Congo who had been missing since 12 March, and vowed that the Organization would do &#8220everything possible&#8221 to ensure that justice is done.

In African and Middle Eastern countries facing famine, unsafe water is as dangerous for severely malnourished children as lack of food, the United Nations Children&#39s Fund (UNICEF) today warned, noting that nearly 27 million people are at risk in northeast Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan and Yemen.

Visiting a traditional fishing community in Senegal, the President of the United Nations General Assembly has called on the countries in the region to prioritize conserving and sustainably managing their marine resources.

The United Nations and regional partner organizations today expressed deep concern about the situation in the central Kasaï region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) where at least two United Nations experts disappeared two weeks ago and dozens of police officers were reportedly found dead.

Millions of children are on the brink of starvation in the worst humanitarian crisis in decades, the United Nations Children&#39s Fund (UNICEF) today warned, urgently calling for nearly $255 million to respond to immediate needs in northeast Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan and Yemen.