Africa

These Burundians in Rwanda’s Bugesera reception centre fled across the border to escape from pre-election violence.
UNHCR/S. Masengesho

UN relief wing says unrest continues in Burundi, requests funds for humanitarian contingency planning

30 April 2015
Civil unrest continued for a fourth day in areas of Burundi’s capital, Bujumbura, after current President Pierre Nkurunziza was nominated by the ruling National Council for the Defence of Democracy – Forces for the Defence of Democracy (CNDD-FDD) party as their candidate for upcoming presidential elections, the United Nations relief arm reported today.
Stop killing journalists.
UNESCO

UNESCO chief condemns killing of journalist in Democratic Republic of the Congo

30 April 2015
The head of the United Nations body mandated to defend freedom of expression and press freedom called today for an investigation into the killing of a journalist in the Democratic Republic of the Congo on 16 April.
Ebola caregivers in Guinea.
UNMEER/Simon Ruf

New UN special envoy on Ebola response makes first visit to Sierra Leone

29 April 2015
The United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) today said that surveillance and community engagement still require improvement in some areas of Guinea and Sierra Leone where new cases continued to surface, a day after the new Special Representative for UN Ebola Response, Peter Graff, was informed of a continued transmission epicentre on the border between those two countries.
Chadian UN peacekeepers heading to their base in Tessalit, northern Mali. Photo MINUSMA/Marco Dormino

Ban calls for immediate end to hostilities in northern Mali amid surge in violence

29 April 2015
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today called for an immediate end to hostilities in northern Mali and expressed concern over ceasefire violations that have occurred in the country in recent days at a “critical moment” in the peace process to bring all parties to sign the draft peace agreement.
A woman and her children in a camp for internally displaced persons, in Yola, the capital of Adamawa, Nigeria, after members of the Boko Haram rebel group attacked their home.
UNICEF/Abdrew Esiebo

UN envoy Gordon Brown welcomes release of 200 Nigerian girls held captive by Boko Haram

29 April 2015
The United Nations Special Envoy for Global Education, Gordon Brown, has welcomed the release of 200 girls from captivity by Boko Haram and called for the immediate release of all abducted girls, ahead of his meeting tomorrow with Nigerian President-Elect.
Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Libya, Bernardino León, speaks to reporters in New York following his closed-door briefing to the Security Council.
UN Photo/Loey Felipe

Draft political deal for Libyan parties is ‘work in progress,’ UN envoy tells Security Council

29 April 2015
Announcing today that he had outlined for the Security Council his draft proposal for a political agreement among Libya’s opposing factions, the United Nations envoy for the country warned that ongoing “chaos” there has sparked a series of dire events in the wider region – forcing thousands of desperate civilians to seek unsafe passage across the Mediterranean and a spate of recent bomb attacks against embassies in Tripoli.
Livestock herders on the outskirts of a small market in Belet Weyne, Somalia.
AU/UN IST/Stuart Price

Somalia registers record export of livestock in 2014 due to trade boost with Gulf States

29 April 2015
Somalia in 2014 exported a record five million livestock to markets in the Gulf of Arabia thanks to heavy investments in animal disease prevention backed by the European Union and the United Kingdom, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said today.
MINUSMA peacekeepers from Niger on patrol in Ménaka, Mali.
MINUSMA/Marco Dormino

Mali: senior UN official urges parties to ‘immediately cease hostilities’

28 April 2015
Amid an upsurge in violence in Mali, the top United Nations official there today warned parties about the serious consequences their actions could have on the country’s peace process.
Hervé Ladsous, Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, greeting UN peacekeepers during a visit to the Central African Republic (CAR).
UN Photo/Jean Claude Bitsure

UN peacekeeping chief wraps up trip to Central African Republic as Mission reaches full strength

28 April 2015
The United Nations peacekeeping chief finished a four-day trip to the Central African Republic today, his visit to the country coinciding with the UN stabilization Mission there achieving full operational capability for the first time.
Child soldiers released in South Sudan.
UNICEF/2015/South Sudan/Sebastian Rich

Top UN official in South Sudan urges release of remaining child soldiers

28 April 2015
The United Nations Special Representative for South Sudan, Ellen Margrethe Løj, travelled to Pibor town in the eastern part of the country, where she met some of the recently released child soldiers and urged the release of the remaining children still being held by a militia group in the region.