UN News Centre - Africa

A senior United Nations human rights official today called for holding accountable those committing atrocity crimes in conflict-torn South Sudan.

Amid ongoing rebel activity in and around Bambari in strife-torn Central African Republic, the United Nations mission – known as MINUSCA – said today that it has reinforced its presence in the city with the arrival of additional troops, including a quick reaction unit and Special Forces.

Amid worsening of an already devastating drought in Somalia, United Nations agencies have underlined that only a massive and immediate scale-up of humanitarian assistance can help the country avoid falling into another catastrophe.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has welcomed the rescission the Gambia’s withdrawal from the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Increasingly concerned about the political impasse in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the United Nations and regional partner organizations today urged political actors to work out how to implement the 31 December political agreement on a timeframe for elections.

The top United Nations peacekeeping official in South Sudan has described the lack of information about the situation of some 20,000 internally displaced people on the west bank of the Nile in the country’s north, as a “real problem.”

Shame and stigma prevent many rape survivors in conflict zones from reporting the abuses they endure at the hands of war criminals whose sole aim in carrying out these horrific deeds is to torture and humiliate their enemy.

Yet the courageous testimonies of women who survived rape during the 1994 genocide in Rwanda provided the evidence required for a United Nations war crimes tribunal to find Jean-Paul Akayesu guilty, four years after the shocking conflagration, marking the first judgment for the crime of genocide under international law.

Despite improving security situation in Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic (CAR), concerns remain in other parts of the country, the top United Nations peacekeeping official told the Security Council today, underlining the need for continued international attention.

With concerted response, Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have successfully controlled one of the world’s largest and most challenging outbreaks of yellow fever, the United Nations health agency announced.

In the face of continued political crisis in Guinea-Bissau, a more sustained and well-coordinated approach is required to sustain economic gains, said the United Nations envoy for the country, calling for “faithful” implementation of a regionally-brokered road-map.

The Security Council has strongly condemned continued fighting across South Sudan, particularly incidents in the country&#39s Equatoria and Upper Nile regions, and called on all parties to cease hostilities immediately.

The United Nations peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo today expressed its concern about the persistent conflict in the Kasai provinces where violent atrocities are being committed by the Kamuina Nsapu militia.

With already more than 3.5 million displaced within and outside the borders of South Sudan and thousands more driven to neighbouring countries every day, the United Nations refugee agency has appealed for an urgent peaceful resolution to what has now become Africa&#39s worst refugee crisis.

The heads of the United Nations agencies for human rights, migrants, and refugees, and the UN envoy for Libya, today met in Geneva calling for international solidarity to address the flows of migrants and refugees in the North African country.

Welcoming political and security progress in Somalia since 2012, including the recently concluded elections in the country, the United Nations Security Council today highlighted the need to &#8220maintain the momentum&#8221 towards democratic governance in the African nation.

Secretary-General António Guterres joined the wider United Nations and its international partners in congratulating Mohamed Abdullahi &#39Farmajo&#39 upon his election as the Somalia&#39s new President and pledging to work with him and his new Government to tackle urgent national priorities, including averting famine.

Denouncing forceful entry by armed individuals into a hospital in the Central African Republic&#39s restive PK5 neighbourhood with the intention to kill some of the patients, a senior United Nations humanitarian official has emphasized that such incidents are in violation of the international humanitarian law.

The United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) today voiced concern about an escalation in the fighting between Government and opposition forces in the west bank of the River Nile in the African country&#39s north-eastern region.

Congratulating former Prime Minister Mohamed Abdullahi ‘Farmajo’ on his election as Somalia’s new President, the United Nations Assistance Mission in the country (UNSOM) said the UN and the wider international community are ready to assist him in addressing the myriad challenges that await his Government.

Côte d&#39Ivoire is on the path to durable stability, the United Nations envoy for the country today told the Security Council, but warned that authorities need to invest more in national reconciliation and transitional justice, and to improve the economic, social and cultural rights of Ivoirians.