UN chief to travel to Africa, G8 Summit in France
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Ban Ki-moon, the secretary- general of the United Nations will soon travel to Cote d'Ivoire, Nigeria, and Ethiopia as well as France, according to a note to correspondents released by the his spokesperson's office here on Wednesday. "The secretary-general will travel to Cote d'Ivoire, where on Saturday he will attend Alassane Ouattara's inauguration and meet with him in Yamoussoukro," said the note. "His participation in this event is in light of the special circumstances surrounding the installation of the democratically elected Government in Cote d'Ivoire."
Ouattara's inauguration will come after months of civil strife and violence in the West African nation due to former President Laurent Gbagbo's refusal to hand over the presidency to Ouattara. Authorities apprehended Gbagbo on April 11, clearing the way for Ouattara to take office.
While in Cote d'Ivoire, the note said, Ban will travel to Abidjan, the commercial capital of the country, where he will visit Ivorians internally displaced by the conflict as well as UN mission staff and peacekeepers stationed there. Ban will then be in Nigeria and Ethiopia starting next week to discuss the "Every Woman, Every Child" health campaign, the note said. "Every Woman, Every Child," which Ban launched during the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) Summit in September 2010, aims to bring a variety of stakeholders together to stop preventable deaths of women and children worldwide. "
In Nigeria, a country with one of the highest maternal mortality burdens in sub-Saharan Africa, the secretary-general will visit a hospital and a primary health care center to see major improvements underway," the note said, "He will meet with President Goodluck Jonathan and the cabinet of Nigeria as well as provincial governors to accelerate implementation of the MDGs."
During his time in Abuja, Ban will also meet with the foreign minister of Nigeria as well as the chair of the Independent National Electoral Commission. After his stay in Nigeria, Ban will travel to Ethiopia where he will meet with the prime minister and leaders present at the India- Africa Forum Summit in Addis Ababa. He will also visit a rural extension program that trains women to work in the health field.
To address the theme of women's and children's health, he will then meet with women and children in their homes and at a health post and hospital "to witness the accomplishments and understand the challenges to achieving the 'Every Woman, Every Child' goals," the note said. "The secretary-general will then travel to the G8 Summit in Deauville, France, where he will meet with leaders of the G8 and continue to push for a sustained focus on women's and children's health as a cornerstone of the development agenda," said the note.
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