UN News Centre - Africa

One month after Cyclone Idai devastated parts of Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) appealed to the international community to  help some 1.6 million children still reeling from its impact.  

The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) “does not constitute a public health emergency of international concern”, according to a statement issued on Friday by the World Health Organization (WHO).

“Miraculously I had no machete marks” a survivor of the Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda told a solemn United Nations event in New York on Friday, 25 years on, to remember the systematic killing of more than one million people, over less than three months.

Sudan’s military has an “overarching duty” to refrain from using violence against protesters and ensure that their human rights are protected amid concerns of a further escalation, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet said on Friday.

UN chief António Guterres said on Thursday that the “democratic aspirations of the Sudanese people” need to be realized through “an appropriate and inclusive transition process”, following the overthrow and arrest of President Omar al-Bashir by order of the country’s new military governing council.

Nearly one month after Cyclone Idai slammed into the southeast African coast, the streets of Mozambique’s busy port city of Beira are “returning to life” as the search for survivors continues throughout neighbouring Zimbabwe, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said on Tuesday. 

An upsurge of violence in the south-east of Niger means that the population’s suffering is increasing “with each passing month,” a UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) spokesperson warned on Tuesday, at a press briefing in Geneva. In March alone, some 88 civilians were reported to have died during attacks.

Sudan’s authorities have an “over-arching responsibility” to protect protesters, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, said on Tuesday, amid reports that 70 people have died in the latest anti-Government clashes.

With security forces reportedly firing tear gas at protesters and signs that there may be division between the army and security forces in Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, over how to deal with ongoing demonstrations, the UN chief on Monday called on “all actors to exercise utmost restraint and avoid violence.”

In a message to commemorate the 25-year anniversary of the genocide against the Tutsi, during which Hutu and others who opposed the genocide were also killed, UN chief António Guterres has warned of dangerous trends of rising xenophobia, racism and intolerance in many parts of the world.

Secretary-General António Guterres said he is hopeful for a solution to the eight-year long conflict in Libya, after a high-level meeting in Tunis, Tunisia, on Saturday with officials from the Arab League, the European Union and the African Union -- the group known as the 'Libya Quartet.'

Appearing before the Security Council on Friday, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said that the only way to prevent increased violence and instability in Mali is to tackle root causes such as grinding poverty; climate change and competition for resources; underdevelopment, and a fundamental lack of opportunities for young people.

A rise in new cases of deadly Ebola virus disease in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has been announced, while authorities say that progress is being made in accessing communities that have been wary of outside help, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday.

The United Nations Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide, Adama Dieng, expressed on Thursday his deepest concern and strongly condemned recent attacks against villages in Mali, including mass-killings last weekend in the Mopti region, which left 160 dead, including some 50 children, according to the UN human rights office (OHCHR).

As the full extent of destruction caused by Cyclone Idai across southern Africa continues to be assessed, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) said on Wednesday it was in “a race against time” to protect women who bore the brunt of the storm as they tried to save their households and livelihoods. 

The UN’s outgoing Special Envoy for Africa’s Great Lakes region on Tuesday said countries there had made “important steps towards durable peace and stability” in the last 20 years, resulting in a region that is now “largely peaceful”.

Mali’s authorities have been urged by the UN to provide justice for the victims and survivors of attacks by so-called self-defence groups, responsible for horrific intercommunal violence in central Mali, after a weekend assault that claimed the lives of more than 150 people, including some 50 children.

Cyclone Idai and the mounting death toll is “yet another alarm bell about the dangers of climate change” UN Secretary-General António Guterres said on Tuesday, warning that vulnerable countries like Mozambique, would be hit the hardest unless urgent action is taken by nations across the world.

The United Nations has strongly condemned the armed attack on a village in restive central Mali which reportedly left at least 134 people dead and dozens wounded early on Saturday.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has welcomed the establishment in the Central African Republic (CAR) of a government in line with an early February peace deal struck with more than a dozen armed groups active in the country.