Japan has promised that it will use its place on the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) next year to push for a permanent African seat on the world body, the country’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said on Sunday.
In what the Prime Minister termed “a moment of truth”, Japan emphasized that the current placement of Africa at the peripherals of the UNSC structure presents an unaddressed historical injustice against the continent. “In order for the UN to work effectively for peace and stability, there is an urgent need to strengthen the UN as a whole through Security Council reform,” Mr. Kishida added.
The question of Africa’s permanent seat has been a subject of intense debate amongst political scholars and diplomats. The UNSC is made up of 15 members, five of whom are permanent and have veto-wielding power: the United States, Russia, China, France and the United Kingdom. The remaining 10 positions are filled by countries for two-year stints, five of which are announced each year. Pan-African ambassadors view this current structure of the Security Council places Africa as a rule taker rather than a rule maker.
Japan also indicated her intention to cooperate closely with African countries to promote “more resilient" economies, he told the final session of an investment conference in Tunisia a day after announcing $30 billion in public and private finance for the continent.
Japan wants “to create an environment where African people can live in peace and security so they can develop," Kishida said, speaking via live video from Tokyo after testing positive for Covid-19 days earlier.
He also announced Japan would appoint a special envoy to the Horn of Africa, where a long drought has prompted the UN’s weather agency to warn last week of an “unprecedent humanitarian catastrophe.
Senegalese President Macky Sall, chairperson of the 55-member African Union, backed Kishida’s call for the continent to have a seat on the UN Security Council. Conflicts “that destabilise us and prevent us from developing must be taken into account by the Security Council" whose mission it is to promote international peace and security, Sall said.
He also called for a greater role for African peacekeepers in resolving conflicts. “Without security there can be no development," Sall said.
The eighth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) took place in Tunisia, one of many import-dependent countries battered by global supply disruptions and price spikes unleashed by the COVID 19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine.
Some 20 African heads of state and government took part in the summit in the North African nation, which brought together around 5,000 people from business and other sectors and shut down major roads across the capital Tunis, causing weekend traffic chaos.
Tunisian host President Kais Saied called for a “new approach" towards Africa, noting that many countries which had racked up large foreign debts since independence were also net exporters of human resources, taking skills gained in Africa to be used in the global North. “Who is lending to whom?" he asked.
Sall called for African debts to be rescheduled or cancelled, as well as for the implementation of a promise by the G20 group of nations to suspend interest payments. “Given the double crisis we’re facing, these measures are necessary to relaunch our economies," he said.
The conference came as Japan’s rival China cements its influence on the continent with its “Belt and Road" infrastructure initiative, and as experts express concern about the long-term sustainability of some African nations’ borrowing from Beijing. The borrowing has become inflated, with a large amount of the accrued debts not catering for developmental needs, economic analysts expressed concern.
In West Africa, Kishida said Japan would pump $8.3 million into the troubled but gold-rich Liptako-Gourma tri-border area between Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso that has been ravaged by jihadist attacks in recent years. The aid will aim to “develop good cooperation between residents and local authorities" and help improve administrative services for the area’s five million residents, he said.
In a final statement, the conference participants voiced “deep concern (over) the negative socio-economic impact" of Russia-Ukraine crisis, saying it had created food insecurity in Africa. “(We) reiterate the repeated calls for the resumption of the export of cereals, grains and agricultural products as well as fertilisers to global markets in order to relieve the African population," the declaration read.
Japan has promised that it will use its place on the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) next year to push for a permanent African seat on the world body, the country’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said on Sunday.
In what the Prime Minister termed “a moment of truth”, Japan emphasized that the current placement of Africa at the peripherals of the UNSC structure presents an unaddressed historical injustice against the continent. “In order for the UN to work effectively for peace and stability, there is an urgent need to strengthen the UN as a whole through Security Council reform,” Mr. Kishida added.
The question of Africa’s permanent seat has been a subject of intense debate amongst political scholars and diplomats. The UNSC is made up of 15 members, five of whom are permanent and have veto-wielding power: the United States, Russia, China, France and the United Kingdom. The remaining 10 positions are filled by countries for two-year stints, five of which are announced each year. Pan-African ambassadors view this current structure of the Security Council places Africa as a rule taker rather than a rule maker.
Japan also indicated her intention to cooperate closely with African countries to promote “more resilient" economies, he told the final session of an investment conference in Tunisia a day after announcing $30 billion in public and private finance for the continent.
Japan wants “to create an environment where African people can live in peace and security so they can develop," Kishida said, speaking via live video from Tokyo after testing positive for Covid-19 days earlier.
He also announced Japan would appoint a special envoy to the Horn of Africa, where a long drought has prompted the UN’s weather agency to warn last week of an “unprecedent humanitarian catastrophe.
Senegalese President Macky Sall, chairperson of the 55-member African Union, backed Kishida’s call for the continent to have a seat on the UN Security Council. Conflicts “that destabilise us and prevent us from developing must be taken into account by the Security Council" whose mission it is to promote international peace and security, Sall said.
He also called for a greater role for African peacekeepers in resolving conflicts. “Without security there can be no development," Sall said.
The eighth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) took place in Tunisia, one of many import-dependent countries battered by global supply disruptions and price spikes unleashed by the COVID 19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine.
Some 20 African heads of state and government took part in the summit in the North African nation, which brought together around 5,000 people from business and other sectors and shut down major roads across the capital Tunis, causing weekend traffic chaos.
Tunisian host President Kais Saied called for a “new approach" towards Africa, noting that many countries which had racked up large foreign debts since independence were also net exporters of human resources, taking skills gained in Africa to be used in the global North. “Who is lending to whom?" he asked.
Sall called for African debts to be rescheduled or cancelled, as well as for the implementation of a promise by the G20 group of nations to suspend interest payments. “Given the double crisis we’re facing, these measures are necessary to relaunch our economies," he said.
The conference came as Japan’s rival China cements its influence on the continent with its “Belt and Road" infrastructure initiative, and as experts express concern about the long-term sustainability of some African nations’ borrowing from Beijing. The borrowing has become inflated, with a large amount of the accrued debts not catering for developmental needs, economic analysts expressed concern.
In West Africa, Kishida said Japan would pump $8.3 million into the troubled but gold-rich Liptako-Gourma tri-border area between Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso that has been ravaged by jihadist attacks in recent years. The aid will aim to “develop good cooperation between residents and local authorities" and help improve administrative services for the area’s five million residents, he said.
In a final statement, the conference participants voiced “deep concern (over) the negative socio-economic impact" of Russia-Ukraine crisis, saying it had created food insecurity in Africa. “(We) reiterate the repeated calls for the resumption of the export of cereals, grains and agricultural products as well as fertilisers to global markets in order to relieve the African population," the declaration read.