Armed conflicts
More than 44,000 people, 45% of them children, are currently declared missing across Africa, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said in a statement marking the International Day of the Disappeared.
About 82% of those missing are from just seven countries with armed conflicts, the ICRC said.
Nigeria accounts for more than half of the total number of missing persons in Africa. Some 24,000 people have been registered missing in the country.
Other countries with high numbers of disappeared people include Ethiopia, South Sudan, Somalia, Libya, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Cameroon.
The ICRC said the continent had seen a rise in the number of missing people in the past year as a result of armed conflicts and other forms of violence.
Restrictions due to the Covid-19 pandemic are hampering efforts to find victims and reunite them with their families but the ICRC says missing people are not forgotten people.
00:55
Oil prices rise on stalled US-Iran talks and restrained fuel markets
00:52
Ethiopia fighting intensifies as Government forces retake Alamata
01:01
Tenth woman found dead in South Africa's string of mystery killings
01:23
Ethiopian president warns of 'interference' amid renewed Tigray fighting
01:55
Volunteers in Algeria moblise to support families displaced by wildfires
01:33
Guinea: Conakry residents grapple with aftermath of landfill disaster