Suvendrini Kakuchi
21 April 2005
analysis
Tokyo — The Asia-Africa Summit scheduled to begin in Bandung, Indonesia on Friday could be an opportunity for Japan to play a leading role in alleviating poverty among African nations, which might augur well for its bid for a permanent seat at the U.N. Security Council.
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi scheduled to attend the summit is expected to pledge the doubling of Japanese aid to Africa, now at a miniscule 8.8 percent or 529.9 million U.S. dollars of its total Overseas Development Assistance budget.
The pledge is expected to be accompanied by stepped up efforts in agriculture, peace building and support for the private sector, according to Japanese media.
"Japan will reaffirm its deep committed to reducing poverty in Africa through encouraging trade and development between Asia and Africa," said Yuichi Oba, an official with the Africa section of the Foreign Ministry.
The Bandung conference will be too good an opportunity for Japan to miss.
As the 'Jakarta Post' said in its editorial: "Not that solidarity and partnership, as abstract as they may seem, are unimportant. They are important. Rhetoric can move people."
Fifty years ago, 29 African and Asian heads of state met in Bandung to proudly declare a solidarity they saw as a counterbalance to the divided world of the Cold War, free from the imperialism and dominance of the West.
"The Bandung Conference, attended by 29 leaders, most of whom came from newly independent countries, became the source of inspiration for many nationalist movements in Africa and Asia to fight for their own independence. And they got it," said the 'Jakarta Post'.
Fast-forward 50 years and membership in the Asia-Africa fraternity has swollen to more than 100, but poverty still remains the common enemy - something many nations, especially in Africa, failed to overcome in spite of their independence.
And this is where Japan comes in.
Tokyo does have a strategy, and if the African aid package is the price for being admitted into the U.N. Security Council, it is certainly worth paying.
"Bandung provides a chance for Japan to not only promote Asia-Africa exchanges but to also create a more efficient aid plan that puts priority on a partnership with local and Japanese grass-root workers. This is what needs to be done," explained Tatuo Hayashi, head of African Japan Forum, a non-governmental organisation.
Hayashi and other Africa experts in a press statement Thursday, called on Japan to boost its ODA to African countries much further than the expected official increase. They also outlined a plan to start a new bilateral assistance fund, the Africa-Japan Solidarity Fund, to be governed by both government and civil societies.
"There is the belief that African countries cannot absorb high amounts of aid because of grinding poverty and lack of proper governance skills. But our research shows there are many talented local people who are capable of spending aid more efficiently than government officials and a partnership with civil society should be the focal point," explained Prof. Minoru Obayashi, economist and head of the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) Civil Society Forum, a grassroots organisation.
TICAD, spearheaded by Japan, brings about cooperation between Asian and African along the concept of South-South cooperation. The strategy is a means to combat donor fatigue, especially from the West. Asian input, whether through technology or investment, is expected to ease the burden on Western donors who have been slashing bilateral aid to Africa.
"African exports to Asian countries has grown facilitated by TICAD," said the Foreign Ministry's Oba.
The call on Japan to improve its leadership in Africa was also voiced by ambassador for Ghana in Tokyo Barfuor Adjei-Barwah, who said: "More than South-east Asia, we need Japan to do more in the field of supporting its companies to trade more with Africa."
Other experts such as Shinichi Mizuta, at the Mitsubshi Research Institute, said Japan could play a leading role in African development because it is not seen seen as a colonizer there, unlike Europe.
"The Asia-Africa summit is a platform for Japan to push ahead with aid and programmes that are compatible with African needs -- a mix of humanitarian and technical support, rather than waiting for other countries in Asia to take the lead," he told IPS.
And Bandung is where Japanese public relations can be put to work with Africa.
Unlike Asia, where historical animosities still run high with China and South Korea accusing Japan of glossing over World War II atrocities and other brutalities, Tokyo does not carry such baggage with Africa.
Therefore a hefty African aid package might burnish Japan's tarnished Asian image and woo support from nations in the continent when the U.N. general assembly votes on an expanded Security Council this September.
"Now is the time to showcase Japan's commitment to poverty reduction by steering more grants to Africa that needs help the most," said TICAD Civil Society Forum's Obayashi.
A U.N. seat means respectability for Japan, and an endorsement of its moral authority to be in the Security Council is what Tokyo will be seeking from African nations at the Africa-Asia summit.
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