Japan gives African Union $19m for Darfur

May 1, 2006 (ADDIS ABABA) — Japan said on Monday it would give the African Union (AU) almost $19 million for its peacekeeping and humanitarian work in Sudan’s Darfur region.

Ending a three-day visit to Ethiopia, where the AU is based, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said Japan had already contributed $5 million to its African Mission in Sudan (AMIS).

“Japan has decided to provide additional emergency assistance of $8.7 million for the improvement of AMIS and a further $10 million for improvement of the humanitarian situation in Darfur,” Koizumi said in a statement.

He called on Darfur’s warring parties — currently in peace talks in Abuja, Nigeria — to make all efforts to reach an agreement.

Mediators have given the Sudanese government and two rebel groups until midnight on Tuesday to sign up to a proposed AU peace plan crafted out of two years of tortuous negotiations.

The rebels took up arms in early 2003 in ethnically mixed Darfur over what they saw as neglect by the Arab-dominated Khartoum government. They have objections on all three aspects of the AU proposal: security, power and wealth-sharing.

Fighting has killed tens of thousands while a government-backed militia campaign of arson, looting and rape has driven more than two million from their homes into refugee camps in Darfur and neighbouring Chad.

Koizumi is seeking to boost Tokyo’s global influence and woo African support for Japan’s bid to win a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council.

Before leaving Ethiopia for Ghana, he reiterated his intention to sharply increase development aid to the continent. Japan is one of the biggest buyers of coffee from Ethiopia, Africa’s biggest grower.

(Reuters)