Top > Speeches and Statements by Prime Minister

Support for AMIS and People in Darfur To deal with the serious security and humanitarian crisis in Darfur, the African Union (AU) has dispatched a mission (AMIS) to monitor the ceasefire, while mediating a peace agreement among the relevant parties. Japan highly commends such efforts by Africa, and has already extended approximately US$5 million to support AMIS and its related activities. Given the current situation, Japan has decided to provide additional emergency assistance of approximately US$ 8.7 million to strengthen its support to AMIS and its related activities. In addition, Japan intends to extend approximately US$10 million in assistance for the improvement of the humanitarian situation in Darfur. Actions on Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW) The Proliferation of small arms and light weapons (SALW) has been a major factor in causing or aggravating violent conflicts in Africa. It also poses a direct threat to the human security of African people. As a peace- loving nation that refrains from exporting arms, Japan has been leading the international rule-making process on the control of illicit SALW, while assisting Africa with its on-the-ground projects, such as the collection and destruction of SALW . Now, Japan is determined to pay greater attention and attach more weight to the issue of SALW, in particular to help ensure that measures to control SALW will have their full effect. Assistance on Counter-Terrorism In order to deny safe havens for terrorists, the international community should tackle counter-terrorism with a long-term perspective. In Africa, in addition to related actions taken by individual countries, the AU has set up the Anti-Terrorism Center (ACSRT) to strengthen capacity building of African countries for counter-terrorism. Japan will support such efforts by Africa, based on its experiences in Asia. Support for NEPAD The New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) -- the first comprehensive development plan of Africa's own making -- has already entered into the implementation phase, and Japan is cooperating with NEPAD in close consultation with its secretariat (a Japan-NEPAD policy dialogue was held in March). Japan's immediate priority sectors for NEPAD support include: (a) infrastructure, (b) agriculture, (c) trade and investment promotion, and (d) human resources development . For the promotion of economic growth in Africa, Japan is considering supporting the following projects under the Infrastructure Consortium for Africa: (a) Mali-Senegal South Corridor; (b) Nacala Development Corridor; (c) Rehabilitation Programme of Ports in the Republic of Angola; (d) Mombasa Port Rehabilitation in Kenya; (e) Improvement of Takoradi Port and its neighboring road networks in Ghana. In the area of agriculture, Japan is puting emphasis on the development and dissemination of NERICA (New Rice for Africa), focusing for the time being on projects in Guinea and Uganda. On human resources development, four technical cooperation projects are candidates for future collaboration: (a) Research and Control of Infectious and Parasitic Diseases Project (Kenya) ; (b) West African Centre for International Parasite Control Project (Ghana); (c) Vocational Training for African countries (Senegal) ; (d) Vocational Training for Instructors (Uganda). Action Plan in Combatting Infectious Diseases in Africa (See Annex for details) [PDF] Japan launched the "Health and Development Initiative" (US$5 billion for 5 years) in May 2006. To translate it into concrete actions in the area of infectious diseases in Africa, Japan has drawn up an Action Plan. The Plan is focused on countermeasures against (a) HIV/AIDS; (b) malaria and tuberculosis; (c) polio; (d) parasitic diseases; and (e) emerging infectious diseases including avian flu, as well as on human resources development and promotion of exchanges among relevant institutions utilizing core medial institutions established with Japan's assistance, such as the Noguchi Memorial Institute in Ghana and the Kenya Medical Research Institute.