The UN agency for migration has a new director general, with António Vitorino of Portugal taking the helm this month as former United States diplomat William Lacy Swing steps down after two five-year terms. The 61-year-old Vitorino is a former European Commissioner for Justice and Home Affairs, and was Portugal’s…
Horst Kohler, the United Nations Special Envoy on Western Sahara, has invited the Polisario Front to a first round of talks with Morocco in December in Geneva, according to Sahara Press Service. The official media outlet aligned with Western Sahara independence said the Polisario Front received its invitation on Friday…
Funeral services for Kofi Annan, the former Secretary General of the United Nations, are set to begin at 9 a.m. Thursday in the auditorium of the Accra International Conference Center, where visitors have gathered for two days to pay their final respects. The 80-year-old Annan died on August 18 in Switzerland following…
With an investigation now complete, the United Nations representative in Malawi, Maria Jose Torres, is calling on the government to promptly prosecute 12 people connected to the death of an albino man earlier this year. The dismembered body of 22-year-old MacDonald Masambuka was found in April after he went missing in…
Burundi has again pushed back at the findings of a United Nations human rights investigation released Wednesday that found grave violations continue in the small African nation, including summary deaths, torture, sexual violence and arbitrary arrest. Government spokesman Willy Nyamitwe, a senior advisor to President Pierre Nkurunziza and member of his…
In Zimbabwe, it has been more than three years since human rights activist Itai Dzamara was abducted at gunpoint. The next year it was his brother, Patson, who went missing. The difference between the two is that Patson came back but Itai never has. Their stories are achingly familiar to…
Kofi Annan, the former Secretary General of the United Nations and the first black African to lead the UN, has died in Switzerland. The Kofi Annan Foundation announced the 80-year-old Ghanaian died on Saturday after a short illness, with his wife, Nane, and three children by his side. “Kofi Annan…
Former president of Chile Michelle Bachelet has officially been appointed as the new United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, following a vote Friday at the UN General Assembly in New York. The Bachelet announcement was warmly received by UN Secretary General António Guterres, who called her “a pioneer, a…
The much-awaited Global Compact for Migration is one step closer to adoption, as the United Nations finalized the text on Friday. Plans for that adoption are set for December at a conference in Morocco. The Global Compact initiative was approved in 2016 during the Addressing Large Movements of Refugees and…
A report issued Tuesday by the United Nations human rights agency documents grisly attacks on South Sudanese civilians that appeared to be the work of government forces and groups aligned with them. The 14-page report, which records incidents in southern Unity state in April and May of this year, lists…
The United Nations said Thursday that it stands ready to support efforts to help resolve tensions between farmers and nomadic herders in areas of West and Central Africa, which in recent days have led to the deaths of some 200 people in Nigeria. The news comes as Nigerian authorities announced…
Nations in North Africa need to become more proactive in preventing drought before it happens in what is one of the world’s most water-scarce regions. That’s according to a report released Friday by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), released in conjunction with World Day to Combat Desertification and…
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres welcomed the news of a new cabinet established late Monday in Madagascar, following a May 25 court order to form a national unity government in hopes of ending the island nation’s political crisis. President Hery Rajaonarimampianina’s picks include Andry Rajoelina and Marc Ravalomanana, both of…
Another attack on aid workers and facilities in the Central African Republic has prompted outrage from the country’s United Nations humanitarian coordinator, who demanded that the armed groups responsible be held accountable for the consequences of violating international humanitarian law. The statement from Najat Rochdi followed an intrusion at the…
Meteorologists tracking Sagar, a relatively rare tropical storm that strengthened as it crossed the entire Gulf of Aden, are expecting landfall on Saturday near the Djibouti-Somalia border. It has potential impacts for Ethiopia too as it reaches the Horn of Africa. Flash floods were reported in the Bari region of…