West and Central Africa & other topics - Daily Briefing (23 August 2019)

Briefing by Eri Kaneko, Associate Spokeswoman for the Secretary-General.
Highlights:
- Secretary-General Travels
- Security Council
- MoU Rwanda/Uganda
- Sudan Floods
- Central African Republic
- UNICEF
- IOM
- International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition
Secretary-General Travels
The Secretary-General will depart this evening for a three-country trip that will take him to France, Japan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
His first stop will be France, where he will attend the G7 Summit in Biarritz, where he will participate in sessions on climate biodiversity and oceans, on fighting against inequalities and on the partnership with Africa and the Sahel. He will also hold bilateral meetings with world leaders on the sidelines of the G7 Summit.
The Secretary-General will then travel to Yokohama, Japan, on the evening of Tuesday, 27 August, to participate in the 7th Tokyo International Conference of African Development (TICAD).
There, he will speak at the opening session, a special conference on peace and stability in the Horn of Africa and the neighbouring region, and a thematic session on climate change and disaster risk reduction. He will also meet with the Japanese Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, as well as with other leaders attending the Summit.
Then on Saturday, 31 August, the Secretary-General will arrive in the Democratic Republic of the Congo for a three-day visit to take stock of and mobilize additional support for the response to the Ebola outbreak.
In the province of North Kivu, he will meet with Ebola survivors and health workers during a visit to an Ebola Treatment Center and also assess the implementation, by the UN peacekeeping mission there (MONUSCO) and its Intervention Brigade, of its mandate to protect civilians and support the authorities of the DRC to consolidate peace and stabilize the country.
In Kinshasa, the Secretary-General will meet with the President of the DRC, other senior government officials, members of the opposition and representatives from civil society organizations.
He will be back in New York on 3 September.
UNICEF
Today, UNICEF said that more than 1.9 million children have been forced out of school in West and Central Africa due to an upsurge in attacks and threats of violence against education across the region.
According to a new report, as of June 2019, 9,272 schools were closed in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mali, Niger and Nigeria as a result of insecurity, tripling the number recorded at the end of 2017.
This report warns that deliberate targeting of schools, students and teachers is sweeping across the region, denying children their right to learn, and leaving them, and their communities, in fear for their lives and futures.
The full report is online.

International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition
Today is International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition.
According to the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), this observance is intended to inscribe the tragedy of the slave trade in the memory of all peoples.
The Secretary-General said the transatlantic slave trade is one of the most appalling manifestations of human barbarity.
On his Twitter account he recalled that more than 15 million people were victims of this despicable crime for over 400 years.
The Secretary-General also highlighted that their memory must be honoured and the fight against racism and prejudice must be continued.
Full Highlights: