West and Central Africa

Attacks by armed groups including Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province pose grave threats to Central Africa’s fragile stability, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative told the Security Council on Monday, while spotlighting crucial democratic gains that must be protected.

More than 31 million people across West and Central Africa may not have enough to eat in the coming months as hunger rises due to an “explosive mix” of skyrocketing food prices, conflict and fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, the World Food Programme (WFP) said on Friday. 

West and Central Africa faces “disruptive and destabilising” new trends regarding drug trafficking, drug use and other crimes, according to Yury Fedotov, Executive Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), who briefed the UN Security Council on Wednesday.