Newsletter No. 964
News-Analysis
April 4, 2008

 

THE SETTING SUN IN AFRICA REVISITED

As the late May date of the Fourth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD IV) draws much nearer, Japanese policymakers have sustained a serious blow. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) is about to confirm that Japan is slipping to the Number Five position in the world rankings on foreign aid.

From 1991 to 2000, Japan was the world’s top donor of foreign aid. Since 1983, Japan had always ranked in the top three. Now it has fallen behind the United States, Germany, Britain, and France. There is some possibility that it may also be overtaken by Italy in the coming years. In Africa -- which absorbs about 45% of its budget for aid -- China is also a key rival. Less than 35% of Japanese aid goes to Africa; and most of that is for debt waivers.

There is also the issue of peacekeepers. China is said to maintain more than 1,200 peacekeepers in Africa at the present time. Japan, of course, has none. We discussed just yesterday that the UN has requested GSDF de-mining units for southern Sudan, and if Tokyo sends them that would of course give them a military presence on the African continent. We read today that the Foreign Ministry is keen to approve the mission to Sudan, but resistance is coming from the Defense Ministry. (This makes sense: MOFA is probably looking only at the politics of the deployment while the Defense Ministry must also consider the practical difficulties and physical dangers of such a mission).

As an alternative to an actual deployment of Japanese troops, the Mainichi Shinbun reported at the beginning of this year that Japan would probably be stepping up efforts to train the personnel of other nations for peacekeeping operations in Africa. According to the report, “Japan plans to provide police officers and military personnel from African countries knowledge and technology related to (1) the International Humanitarian Law; (2) emergency medical care; and (3) the removal of land mines.”

Tokyo is now making anxious preparations to ensure that the TICAD IV meeting will be a diplomatic success. They will probably succeed in doing so. Still, the broader trend lines do not seem very promising. Relative to other powers, it may be that Japan’s real position is slipping significantly. It remains to be seen if Japan’s commitment to Africa is really in earnest, or if it is more about doing just enough to save face.

ISLAMIC AFRICA NEWS BRIEFS

As we did at the end of last year, we will provide a section of news briefs on Japan and Islamic Africa. The Shingetsu Institute has been collecting a pretty substantial number of small stories this year that did not seem to justify their own Newsletters but are still worthy of mention. Since we are indeed in the run-up to TICAD IV, there seem to be more of these little stories than usual.

Algeria

Sonatrach, Africa's largest natural gas producer, has announced that Indian, Italian, and Japanese companies are likely to selected to build a pipeline through the Sahara desert and under the Mediterranean Sea to Europe. The 4,127-kilometer pipeline is expected to cost as much as US$14 billion and to be completed by 2015. The Trans-Sahara Pipeline would begin in Nigeria.

Burkina-Faso

MOFA announced in February that it would be providing new grant aid to Burkina-Faso for food and anti-malaria measures. The amount for food aid was about US$4.9 million and the amount for anti-malaria was about US$1.8 million.

Chad

At the beginning of February, the MOFA press secretary released a political statement condemning the actions of anti-government rebels in Chad. The significant portion of the statement read: “Japan strongly condemns the armed attacks by the anti-government forces in Chad as they ignore the efforts being made by the international community to improve the security and humanitarian situation in Chad, including the deployment of the United Nations Mission in the Central African Republic and Chad (MINURCAT), which is operating to stabilize the situation in eastern Chad.”

Djibouti

In mid-January, MOFA announced an aid package to Djibouti to enhance the capacity of the Gulf of Tadjoura to host maritime traffic. The grant aid for this purpose was valued at about US$150,000.

Egypt

MOFA Vice-Minister Osamu Uno has had a busy travel schedule over the past few months. Among his trips was one to the Arab Republic of Egypt from March 7th to March 9th. Among other things, he attended the opening ceremonies for the “Japan-Egypt Year of Science and Technology 2008,” which I’m sure that we’ll have more to say about in a later Newsletter.

Libya

The Libyan Embassy in Tokyo was saddened by the news in early March that Muftah M. H. Faitouri, Libya's former ambassador to Japan, died suddenly of heart attack at age 60 in Tripoli. Ambassador Faitouri was the first Libyan ambassador to Japan after the United Nations lifted its sanctions against the country in September 2003, and had only left Japan in December 2007. At the moment Libya is without a full ambassador in Tokyo.

Mali

Mali was provided with new grant aid for two projects in mid-January. The first of these was roughly US$770,000 to help provide potable water in the Sikasso region. The second was about US$260,000 related to the construction of a road between Mali and Senegal.

A larger package of grant aid for Mali was announced about a month after that. This was grant aid in the amount of about US5.2 million for food aid.

Morocco

At the end of March the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) announced two large loans for Morocco. One of these is the third stage of the drinking water program that we have mentioned previously. An additional US$136 million will be loaned for that. The other program relates to road construction in regional areas and the loans for that purpose will amount to about US$84 million.

Niger

Niger was also the recipient of recent food aid. At the end of February they were provided with about US$5 million for this purpose.

Senegal

Senegal is also affected by the road building project mentioned in the Mali section.

Aside from that, there was a curious event in which an official state visit by Senegalese Foreign Minister Cheikh Tidiane Gadio was announced on March 21st to take place at the end of that month. However, on the 24th the visit was suddenly said to have been cancelled by request of the Senegalese side. No explanation was provided to the public.

Earlier that month, Japan had provided non-project grant aid to the government of Senegal in the amount of about US$8 million.

Tunisia

Our final account has also been the busiest.

First of all, the new ambassador of Tunisia, Dr. Noureddine Hached, presented his credentials to the Emperor, and in the presence of Justice Minister Kunio Hatoyama, on January 8th.

Also, after visiting Egypt, MOFA Vice-Minister Osamu Uno briefly visited Tunisia. The only specific agenda item that was mentioned was issues related to the Borj Cedria Techo-Park. We mentioned Japan’s aid to this project once before in Shingetsu Newsletter No. 25 during the visit to Japan of Tunisian Prime Minister Muhammad Ghannouchi in June 2005.

On March 11th the sixth session of the Japan-Tunisia Joint Committee was held in Tokyo. This committee has held sessions intermittently since December 1985, and so has been around for quite a while. However, sometimes as much as seven years has elapsed between sessions. It’s not quite clear what the specific purpose is. The MOFA statement says only that they would “have a wide-ranging exchange of opinions on comprehensive bilateral relations as well as international conditions in Asia and the Middle East.” That doesn’t really tell us much, does it?

Finally, it was announced at the very outset of this year that the Sumitomo Corporation in partnership with Hyundai of South Korea had won a large order for 76 train cars. The value of the order was put at more than US$1.6 million.