UN News Centre - Africa

After seeing first-hand the complexities of the Ebola response in the conflict-affected region of North Kivu in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the Head of the World Health Organization (WHO) called for “free and secure” access to the disease-affected people. 

With Central African countries beset by ongoing terrorist activity, instability and the effects of climate change, the Security Council has asked the United Nations Secretary-General to review the work of the UN Regional Office for Central Africa (UNOCA), and recommend areas for improvement.

The United Nations Secretary-General has commended the President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Joseph Kabila’s decision on Thursday, not to stand in elections scheduled to take place on 23 December.

The Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Burundi, Michel Kafando, has called on the country’s leaders to “seize the opportunity” offered by the recent adoption of a new constitution, to create a new political environment that is “conducive to the consolidation of national unity and peace”.

There was jubilation in the streets of South Sudan’s capital overnight on Sunday, as residents celebrated a new agreement that the top UN official in the country has described as “a big step forward” towards ending nearly five years of brutal conflict.

To address the urgent needs of more than a million displaced by inter-communal violence in southwestern Ethiopia over the past four months, UN humanitarian agencies and their partners are ramping up their efforts, providing among other things shelter, household items, water and sanitation, and food to the most vulnerable.

Protecting vulnerable people in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) from the latest Ebola Virus outbreak is going to be “very, very complex”, given the huge logistical challenges and ongoing conflict there, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday.

Regional security topped the agenda of a United Nations-backed joint summit on Central and West Africa searching, among other things, for a practical approach to fighting terrorism.

The Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) announced on Wednesday that preliminary laboratory results indicate a new cluster of cases of the deadly Ebola virus in North Kivu province.

After troops reportedly fired on demonstrators protesting election results in Zimbabwe, leaving three dead, the United Nations Secretary-General on Thursday called on the country’s political leaders, and the population at large, to "exercise restraint and reject any form of violence".

Farmers living on the Indian Ocean Comoros archipelago are being supported through a UN Development Programme (UNDP) initiative, to adapt to climate change in an effort to ensure they can continue to prosper in one of Africa’s poorest nations.

With key presidential elections in Mali just two days away, the top United Nations official there on Friday stressed that candidates must accept the results and ensure that the democratic process in Mali is “irreversible”.

Major progress has been made on preparations for the upcoming elections in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, but “conditions for a level playing field are not yet in place”, said the most senior United Nations official based in the country.

Persistent reports of grave human rights abuses in Cameroon — including a widely shared video showing the alleged execution of a woman, child and baby — must be investigated by the authorities urgently, UN rights chief Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein said on Wednesday.

The Ebola virus outbreak in Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has been declared over, thanks to a concerted national and international effort to contain the threat, the UN’s top health official said on Tuesday.

Zimbabwe’s upcoming presidential elections must be peaceful and credible, the UN Human Rights Office, OHCHR, said on Tuesday, amid increasing reports of voter intimidation and coercion linked to the ruling ZANU-PF party.

Farmers in Uganda are keeping their crop yields high, thanks to improved weather data supplied by the UN Development Programme (UNDP)-backed push to modernize climate monitoring systems.

A stronger partnership between the United Nations and the African Union is “not a choice but a necessity” in tackling today’s complex peace and security challenges in Africa, a senior UN official said on Wednesday.

A high-level gathering of representatives from the Somali government and the international community, including the United Nations, ended in Brussels today with renewed commitment to support the Horn of Africa country’s progress in a range of areas, such as state and peace-building efforts.

There have been “positive developments” when it comes to democratization across the vast West Africa and Sahel region, but that has been “competing with the volatile security situation” particularly around areas where terrorist groups are active such as the Lake Chad Basin, the head of the UN Office for the region (UNOWAS) told the Security Council on Tuesday.