UN News Centre - Africa

In eastern Sudan, renewable energy is being trialled as a power source in UN-run refugee camps, where an influx of thousands of people fleeing conflict in Ethiopia is putting a strain on local resources, and host communities.

Deputy Inspector Martina de Maria Sandoval Linares, from El Salvador always wanted to help others. Now, working as a UN Police officer, she has found her vocation, far from home in South Sudan. Ms. Linares, whose eight-year-old daughter and family are back in El Salvador, told UN News why the job is so rewarding, despite the sacrifices she makes.

Two years after Tropical Cyclone Idai and Cyclone Kenneth swept through Mozambique in March 2019, killing hundreds and leaving more than two million people in need of urgent humanitarian assistance, UN chief António Guterres has recalled the devastation he witnessed first-hand, in the aftermath of one of the worst weather-related disasters ever to hit the southern hemisphere.

In Malawi, as in many countries across the world, funds meant for sexual reproductive health and family planning are being diverted to fight the COVID-19 pandemic and the UN has stepped in to prevent these services from grinding to a halt.

The UN chief on Friday, has strongly condemned the latest mass kidnapping of students in Nigeria, in the country’s northwestern region. 

Poor rain forecast for the next few months threatens to exacerbate the plight of tens of thousands of Somalis displaced from their homes and villages due to “extreme” water shortages since last November, the UN humanitarian office said on Friday. 

The political transition in Sudan is moving forward, though formation of the legislative council and other important milestones have yet to be achieved, the head of the new UN mission in the country told a virtual meeting of the Security Council on Tuesday. 

In Nigeria, where nearly three out of 10 Nigerian women have experienced physical violence by age 15, human rights lawyer Rashidat Mohammed fights for the rights of women, children and other vulnerable groups.

A woman officer in Sierra Leone’s army has been put in the forefront of coordinating the national effort to combat COVID-19. Lieutenant Matilda Mattu Moiwo holds a senior position in the West African country’s National COVID-19 Emergency Response Centre, which is supported by the United Nations.

A doctor in Benin has been telling the UN about the challenging conversations she has had with the relatives of patients who have died from COVID-19, and how she has used her long medical experience to effectively lead a team of health care workers.

More than 1,600 people have received Ebola virus vaccinations in Guinea where four have died in a new outbreak, but more lifesaving jabs will be needed to contain the disease, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday.

Given the persistent reports of serious human rights violations and abuses in the Tigray region of Ethiopia, the UN rights chief on Thursday stressed the urgent need for an objective, independent assessment of the facts on the ground.

Through the UN-led vaccine initiative COVAX, Sudan and Rwanda have become the latest beneficiaries to receive the lifesaving COVID-19 inoculation, UN agencies reported on Wednesday. 

South Sudan’s transformation from conflict to recovery is underway, but much needs to be done before securing “a peaceful and prosperous future”, the UN Special Representative to the country told the Security Council on Tuesday. 

In Nigeria, too little is being done to help teenagers left traumatized by the recent spate of attacks on schools and mass abductions, UN-appointed independent rights experts said on Wednesday. 

A funding shortfall is putting the lives of some three million refugees in eastern Africa at risk, two UN agencies warned on Tuesday. 

While the release of more than 200 girls abducted from their school on Friday in northwest Nigeria is a welcome development said senior UN officials there on Tuesday, civilians and aid facilities have come under attack in the country’s northeast, highlighting the plight of civilians who have suffered years of conflict and insecurity.  

In the West African country of Ghana, many people from farming backgrounds are forced to find new ways to survive, as droughts, floods and erratic weather patterns upend age-old agricultural practices.

Côte d'Ivoire received 504,000 doses of lifesaving COVID-19 vaccine on Friday making it the second African nation in a week to benefit from the first shipments of shots from the UN-backed global COVAX initiative, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has reported.

An attack on a secondary school in northwest Nigeria on Friday in which several hundred girls are still missing, has been strongly condemned by the UN Secretary-General, and UN Children’s Fund, UNICEF.