Africa

Muhidin Libah set up the Somali Bantu Community Association in Lewiston, Maine.
UN News/Daniel Dickinson

First Person: The Somali refugees planting a new life in the United States

4 July 2021
Migrants and Refugees

After spending years living in UN-supported camps in Kenya, some 220 former refugees from Somalia now work as farmers in the US state of Maine, growing crops ranging from beets to broccolini.

Farmers in northeastern Nigeria have been unable to cultivate their crops because of insecurity.
UNOCHA/Damilola Onafuwa

FROM THE FIELD: 4.4 million Nigerians facing ‘catastrophic food conditions’

2 July 2021
Humanitarian Aid

Some 4.4 million people in Nigeria are facing what the UN humanitarian office, OCHA, is describing as “catastrophic food conditions”.

Yeshialem Gebreegziabher, 27, holds her daughter, Kalkidan Yeman, 6 months old, who is suffering from malnutrition at Aby Adi Health center in the Tigray region of northern Ethiopia
© UNICEF

400,000 in Tigray cross 'threshold into famine', with nearly 2 million on the brink, Security Council told

2 July 2021
Peace and Security

Senior UN officials appealed on Friday for immediate and unrestricted humanitarian access to Tigray – and for an end to deadly attacks on aid workers - as the Security Council held its first open meeting on the conflict in the restive northern Ethiopian region.

UNICEF is distributing critical supplies to families in Côte d’Ivoire during the COVID-19 pandemic.
© UNICEF/Frank Dejongh

Delta variant drives Africa COVID threat to ‘whole new level´: WHO warns; ‘dominant’ in Europe by August

1 July 2021
Health

With cases now doubling in Africa every three weeks, the Delta variant of COVID-19 has spread to 16 countries and it is present in three of the five nations reporting the highest caseloads. The variant is the most contagious yet - up to 60% more transmissible than other variants.

A UN Human Rights Officer investigates human rights violations in the Menaka region of Mali.
UN Photo/Marco Dormino

Malian authorities urged to ‘break the cycle of impunity’ for human rights violations

29 June 2021
Human Rights

Rampant impunity for human rights violations in Mali is posing serious risks for the protection of civilians in the West African country, UN rights chief Michelle Bachelet said on Tuesday. 

UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed interacts with young women at Baze University Abuja in Nigeria.
UNIC Lagos/Oluseyi Soremekun

Prevention, only ‘sustainable solution’ to conflict, deputy UN chief tells Nigerian law students

25 June 2021
Peace and Security

Speaking in Nigeria, the UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed has emphasized the importance of prevention as “the only real, sustainable solution” to resolving the challenges thrown up by conflict.

More than three million children have been displaced in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo due to militia violence.
© UNICEF/Roger LeMoyne

DR Congo: Grave consequences for children witnessing ‘appalling violence’, UNICEF reports

24 June 2021
Peace and Security

The UN Children’s Fund, UNICEF, appealed on Thursday for urgent resources to support thousands of people who have fled armed violence in two small towns in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) over the past two months. 

UN peacekeepers patrol Bakouma in the Central African Republic.
MINUSCA/Herve Cyriauqe Serefio

Central African Republic entrenched in ‘unprecedented humanitarian crisis’ 

23 June 2021
Peace and Security

Defense forces, soldiers from nearby countries and other security personnel have been fighting an “asymmetric war” against armed groups, sparking an “unprecedented humanitarian crisis”, the top UN official in the country told the Security Council on Wednesday.

Young boys stand in front of a destroyed building in Benghazi Old Town in Libya. (file)
UNOCHA/Giles Clarke

Secretary-General underlines UN commitment to Libya

23 June 2021
Peace and Security

Full implementation of a historic ceasefire agreement and the withdrawal of foreign forces are critical for consolidating peace in Libya, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said on Wednesday in remarks to a major international meeting aimed at shoring up the country after a decade of civil conflict. 

A woman UN peacekeeper attends a training exercise in Malakal, South Sudan.
UNMISS\Janet Adongo

Slow progress, stubborn cycles of violence, as South Sudan turns 10

21 June 2021
Peace and Security

South Sudan, the UN’s youngest Member State, is marking its tenth anniversary of independence amid languishing political progress and a range of humanitarian challenges, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative told Security Council members on Monday.