Japanese official to visit Sudan, meet with gov’t officials over Darfur

TOKYO, Dec 02, 2004 (Kyodo) — Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Ichiro Aisawa will visit Sudan and Morocco next week to inspect the latest situation in the troubled Darfur region and join an international forum on development of the Middle Eastern and North African areas, the Foreign Ministry said Friday.

Aisawa will arrive in Khartoum on Wednesday and discuss with Sudanese government officials the following day the war-torn Darfur region, which the United Nations has called the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

On Saturday, Aisawa plans to join the forum in the Moroccan capital of Rabat and announce Japan’s willingness to help local companies provide job training in the region, the ministry said.

Aisawa will visit the two African countries directly from Afghanistan, where he plans to attend Tuesday’s inauguration of Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

He will leave Japan on Sunday and return home Dec. 14, the ministry said.