Africa

Special Representative for Somalia Nicholas Kay.
AU/UN/IST/Tobin Jones

Somalia: UN envoy condemns deadly attack on medical convoy near Mogadishu

18 December 2013
The top United Nations envoy in Somalia has strongly condemned the killing of six people during an attack on a medical convoy outside Mogadishu today.
Civilians taking refuge at UNMISS compound in Juba.
UNMISS

Amid fighting in South Sudan, senior UN officials urge protection for all communities

17 December 2013
Amid reports of continued clashes today in South Sudan, senior United Nations officials are calling for restraint and protection of civilians, regardless of their communities.
Displaced people living in UNHCR tents at the Bangui Airport, Central African Republic (CAR), where they found shelter from the violence.
UNHCR/S. Phelps

As situation worsens, UN refugee agency sends more staff to Central African Republic

17 December 2013
The United Nations refugee agency said today it has deployed additional emergency teams in the Central African Republic (CAR), where some 210,000 people have been forcibly displaced by violence in the last two weeks in the embattled capital, Bangui.
A human trafficking awareness billboard.
IRIN/Mohamed Amin Jibril

Sudan: UN strengthens support to combating human trafficking, smuggling

17 December 2013
The United Nations refugee agency is working with the Government of Sudan and partners to reduce the number of kidnappings and incidents of trafficking and smuggling in, through and out of the country.
Special Representative and Head of the UN Office for West Africa Said Djinnit.
UN Photo/Rick Bajornas

West Africa remains ‘fragile’ and needs ongoing support, UN envoy tells Security Council

17 December 2013
Despite commendable efforts by leaders of West African countries, the region remains fragile and continues to require ongoing support from the United Nations and the international community, particularly to stem the rise of organized crime, a UN envoy today told the Security Council.
Civilians arriving at the UN House compound on the Southwestern outskirts of Juba to take refuge from fighting that broke out in the South Sudanese capital.
UNMISS/Shantal Persaud

South Sudan: UN envoy urges calm as thousands flee violence to UN bases

16 December 2013
The United Nations peacekeeping mission in South Sudan is deeply concerned about a new bout of fighting that has forced an estimated 13,000 civilians – many women and children – to seek refuge at the UN base in Juba.
Dominique Burgeon, Director of FAO’s Emergency and Rehabilitation Division.
FAO/Giulio Napolitano

Strife-torn Central African Republic faces looming food crisis, UN warns

16 December 2013
The Central African Republic (CAR), wracked by conflict that has killed thousands of people and driven more than half a million from their homes over the past year, is now facing a looming food crisis, the United Nations warned today, calling for urgent action to provide crop seeds to farmers.
MONUSCO troops near Kibumba in North Kivu along the Goma - Rutshuru road, Democratic Republic of the Congo, DRC.
MONUSCO/Sylvain Liechti

DR Congo: UN boosts force in east after gruesome massacre of civilians

16 December 2013
The United Nations mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has sent attack helicopters and manned foot patrols into the country's strife-torn North Kivu province after discovering the bodies of 21 civilians brutally slaughtered, including babies, children and women, some mutilated, others raped.
UN peacekeepers in Ménaka, Mali.
MINUSMA/Fred Fath

Ban and Security Council condemn deadly attack on UN, Malian forces

14 December 2013
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the Security Council have strongly condemned an attack in the north-eastern Malian town of Kidal that killed two blue helmets and left several others, including members of the national armed forces, injured.
Members of the rebel group known as M23 withdrawing from the North Kivu provincial capital of Goma, Democratic Republic of the Congo (December 2012).
UN Photo/Sylvain Liechti

Ban welcomes signing of declarations between DR Congo-M23

13 December 2013
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has welcomed the signing of long-awaited accords between the Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and the M23 rebels it has been fighting until last month, and called on all other armed groups in the country to lay down their weapons and join the political process.