Africa

A recent resurgence of violence in Tripoli, means Libya is “ever more in a race against time” to reach peace, however, agreeing the way forward to ending the conflict “is a realistic prospect”, the top UN official in the country told the Security Council on Monday.    

In the drive towards universal health coverage, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the African Union (AU) Commission cemented their mutual commitment to global health by signing on Monday an historic agreement.

More than 28 million children in northern Nigeria will be protected against measles and meningitis through an immunization campaign  carried out by the authorities alongside international partners, including the World Health Organization (WHO).

The UN Secretary-General has welcomed the decision to push back the deadline for the formation of a unity Government in South Sudan.

A group of independent UN human rights experts said on Friday that there was “credible evidence” that inadequate prison conditions in which former Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi was held may have led “directly” to his death in June, and thousands of other detainees may be at “severe risk”.

Authorities in Burkina Faso must “do everything in their power” to bring to justice the perpetrators of an attack on a mining company convoy in the West African nation on Wednesday, which killed dozens and left scores more injured, the UN chief said on Thursday. 

Organized crime, breakdowns in law and order, and attacks by extremists, are examples of the challenges faced by UN peacekeepers, the Security Council was told on Wednesday, during a briefing by senior UN Police Commissioners, and UN Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, Jean-Pierre Lacroix.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) on Thursday handed down a maximum 30-year prison sentence for mass murder and numerous other atrocities, to Bosco Ntaganda, the heaviest sanction yet imposed by judges at The Hague, in the Netherlands.

A campaign has got underway to prevent the spread of a deadly cholera outbreak to Sudan’s populous Khartoum state, home to more than eight million people, UN medics said on Wednesday.

A recap of Tuesday’s top stories: Humanitarian needs in Cameroon up 15-fold from 2017; UN risk reduction chief calls for more resilient cities; Somalia’s floods put 200,000 children at risk; Internet use study reveals growing gender gap; UN partners spotlight youth mental health. 

Ongoing violence in Cameroon’s northwest and southwest has created a fast-growing humanitarian emergency now affecting some 1.9 million people, a “15-fold increase since 2017”, UN humanitarians said on Tuesday.

The road ahead “will not be easy” for the Horn of Africa, UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed said on Monday, briefing the Security Council on her Joint Solidarity Mission with the African Union (AU) at the end of October. 

The UN migration agency appealed on Friday for the immediate liberation of a volunteer and child who’ve been missing since a gun battle in South Sudan at the weekend that claimed the lives of three agency workers.

The Security Council highlighted the growing partnership on matters of peace and security between the United Nations and African Union (AU) on Wednesday amidst calls to bolster overall effectiveness.

Protecting marine areas from over-exploitation and providing the people who have traditionally lived off the sea with a sustainable alternative livelihood does not come cheap, but in the Seychelles, a focus on financial instruments is making that task easier. 

Updating the Security Council on the situation in the Central African Republic (CAR) on Friday, the head of the UN Mission in the country, MINUSCA, called on the country’s friends and partners, including the Council, to “transform the dreams of peace, prosperity and development of millions of Central Africans into a lasting reality”.

Sudan and neighbouring South Sudan “have never been closer” to reaching a sustainable peace with each other, and their own internal armed opposition groups, the head of UN peacekeeping told the Security Council on Thursday.

Somalia has made “enormous strides on its path to peace and stability”, and Somali women’s participation in peace and security efforts has “helped advance society towards an inclusive and peaceful future”, UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed said on Wednesday.

In a visit to South Sudan this past weekend, members of the UN Security Council urged leaders to expedite implementation of a 2018 peace agreement aimed at ending six years of ongoing conflict.

Authorities in Egypt are being urged by the UN human rights office, OHCHR,  to immediately release scores of citizens who have been arrested in connection with recent anti-government demonstrations in several cities.