Escalating violence in Sudan’s North Darfur state has left dozens dead and people trapped in El Fasher city, which is home to around 800,000 people, many displaced due to fighting. 

The UN human rights office, OHCHR, on Friday raised alarm over the situation in northern Burkina Faso, where several hundred civilians, including children, were reportedly killed amidst fighting between security forces and armed groups.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) is offering medical care, food, shelter and psychosocial support to 33 migrants who survived a shipwreck off the coast of Djibouti on Monday, as local authorities continue search and rescue operations. 

The year-long ongoing war in Sudan is “a crisis of epic proportions”, and the world must rethink the way it supports the Sudanese people amid rampant atrocities against civilians and no end in sight, top UN and African Union officials warned the Security Council on Friday.

Tuesday marked the opening of the third session of the UN Permanent Forum on People of African Descent, bringing together anti-racism activists, human rights defenders, government delegations and others. 

Ethiopia’s international partners convened in Geneva on Tuesday to address the urgent need for increased humanitarian funding for the crisis-hit country, pledging a total of almost $630 million.

Efforts to foster dialogue and address the concerns of Libyan politicians are being met with “stubborn resistance, unreasonable expectations and indifference” on their part, contrary to the national interest, the UN envoy to the North African nation said on Tuesday.

“The world is forgetting about the people of Sudan” the UN chief warned on Monday, calling for a boost in humanitarian funding and a global push for peace to end a year of brutal fighting between rival militaries.

A full year of conflict in Sudan has already caused immense suffering and death but the situation could easily worsen with the news that the warring parties are arming civilians, UN rights chief Volker Türk said on Monday.

Rape. Murder. Hunger. Corpses filling streets, making it impossible to walk. Sudan was plunged into an ongoing, devastating war one year ago on 15 April, leaving in its wake almost 15,000 dead, eight million civilians on the run, 25 million in dire need of assistance and warnings from humanitarians about famine, aid blockades and a growing list of atrocities on all sides.

Nigeria has become the first country to roll out a “revolutionary” five-in-one vaccine against meningitis, the World Health Organization (WHO) said in a statement on Friday.  

The UN renewed its commitment to never forget the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda during a candle lighting ceremony on Friday to mark 30 years since the horrific events there unfolded. 

Almost 55 million people are facing further food and nutrition insecurity in West and Central Africa during the region’s three-month lean season from June through August, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) said on Friday.

Over 8.5 million Sudanese have been forced to flee their homes in Sudan since the war between rival militaries erupted last April, the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, said on Tuesday.

When the Genocide against the Tutsis in Rwanda began in April 1994 Eric Eugene Murangwa was a footballer at one of the country’s top clubs. Although he is a Tutsi, he was protected by a member of the notorious Interahamwe, responsible for killing hundreds of thousands. Ahead of the 30th anniversary of the genocide, marked on 7 April, Mr. Murangwa shared his extraordinary story with UN News.

Two aid convoys carrying lifesaving supplies have reached Sudan’s Darfurs for the first time in months, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) said on Friday, as humanitarians try to avert a “hunger catastrophe”, after nearly a year of heavy fighting.

The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, and partners on Thursday appealed for $1.4 billion this year to support more than two million South Sudanese refugees in five African countries and local communities hosting them. 

A former UN staff member who worked for a decade in Sudan’s Darfur region for the African Union-United Nations mission, UNAMID, has told UN News how she had to “avoid stepping on the bodies in the streets” as she fled for her life to neighbouring Chad.

Insecurity in the volatile eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has worsened since the end of recent elections, UN Special Representative Bintou Keita told the Security Council on Wednesday. 

Large parts of Burkina Faso are being terrorized by armed groups and the rampant insecurity is “beyond alarming”, said the UN human rights chief on Thursday following a brief visit to the country.

Eleven months of brutal fighting is driving a hunger crisis in Sudan, with some areas likely to experience catastrophic levels of food insecurity by the lean season in May, the UN Security Council heard on Wednesday. 

Women in one of the poorest parts of rural Madagascar are growing their financial independence from men by cultivating village land and selling their produce.

As the war in Sudan enters its second year next month, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) on Monday warned of a staggering toll of the crisis on children, with an estimated 24 million teetering on the brink of a “generational catastrophe”.

The UN chief on Saturday condemned an attack which saw eight peacekeepers from the UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, or DRC, wounded during clashes between the powerful M23 rebel movement and Government troops. 

Efforts are being made in the south of Madagascar to end a traditional but illegal practice in which girls are promised as a wife to older men, sometimes even before they are born.

The UN Security Council on Friday adopted a key resolution on Sudan, calling for an immediate cessation of hostilities in the war-torn country during the month of Ramadan, which begins on Sunday.

The UN Secretary-General on Thursday called for an immediate ceasefire in Sudan and unhindered humanitarian access as the country teeters on the brink of further disintegration.

Nearly 11 months since rival generals declared war in Sudan, UN humanitarians warned on Wednesday that the conflict risks triggering “the world’s worst hunger crisis”.

With only nine months remaining before the polls in December, South Sudan is not ready to hold elections and a lot more needs to be done, the head of UN peace operations said on Tuesday.