TICAD II Follow-up Measures

III. Basic Foundations for Development

III-1. Support for UNDP's Africa Governance Forums

The GOJ is studying the possibility of providing financial support for projects assisting good governance in African countries, through Japan's contribution to the UNDP Human Resources Development Fund. These projects are formulated through the studies and reviews carried out at the annual Africa Governance Forum (AGF) held by the UNDP.

Japan provided US$300,000 and US$330,000 respectively through the UNDP Human Resources Development Fund to cover the expenses to organize the "Third Africa Governance Forum" held in Mali in June 1999 and the "Fourth Africa Governance Forum" held in Uganda in September 2000.

III-2. Support for the Organization of African Unity's (OAU) Mechanism for Conflict Prevention, Management and Resolution

The OAU has established the Mechanism for Conflict Prevention, Management and Resolution in 1993 to create a system to deal with the African conflicts comprehensively. Japan has contributed to the OAU Peace fund since fiscal 1996, which was set up with the Mechanism to serve as its financial resource. Japan's contribution has been used to support OAU initiatives (e.g., building of early warning systems, holding of peace conferences to resolve conflicts, etc.).

The amounts of contribution that Japan has made are shown below:

Nine completed or in-progress projects have been supported by them.

III-3. Support for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) projects (promotion of self-reliance of returnees)

Japan is supporting micro-finance projects of the UNHCR for the establishment of small-scale businesses to promote the reintegration of returnees in Zambia, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Mali, Uganda, Rwanda, and Togo through its contribution of US$1.5 million to the UNHCR in 1998.

III-4. Anti-personnel landmines in southern Africa

To tackle the problems of anti-personnel landmines in Cambodia and other mine-infested countries, at the signing of the Convention against Anti-Personnel Landmines in Ottawa in December 1997, the then-Foreign Minister Mr. Keizo Obuchi announced that Japan would set a five-year target beginning from 1998 of providing approximately 10 billion yen in assistance for the clearance of landmines and support of landmine victims (viz., land mine removal, training in removal techniques, rehabilitation of victims, education for avoiding landmines, etc.) In addition, at TICAD II, Japan announced that it would provide assistance to Africa, particularly to the southern African region, for landmine clearance and landmine victim rehabilitation.

In November 1999, Japan contributed US$1 million in emergency grant aid to the UNDP Mozambique Landmine Clearance Trust Fund for a landmine clearance project in the Massinger district to support the country's economic reconstruction. The project was completed in October 1999. Japan subsequently decided to provide US$600,000 in supplemental assistance. From the end of June to July 1999, Japan dispatched a project finding mission to Mozambique to find projects for assisting in landmine clearance and victim rehabilitation.

III-5. Seminars for the promotion of democratization

Begun in 1992, the democratization seminars have offered Japan's perspectives on and experiences in democratic governance to leading officials of developing countries as a model for their own democratization. Below are the seminars for African countries held to date.

III-6. Support for OAU's seminar on participation of women and child refugees, returnees, and internally displaced refugees for state reconstruction

From October 12 to 15, 1998, a seminar on strengthening the participation of returnee women and children, refugees or displaced persons in post-conflict state reconstruction was held at the OAU Secretariat in Addis Ababa. (Japan contributed US$50,000 to the OAU Peace Fund as its share for helping to cover the expenses for the seminar.) At the seminar, an action programme was adopted, recommending that participating countries list up measures that should be taken in the areas of education and health and then set up action programme executing committees in each country. Japan studies assistance by using its contribution to the OAU Peace Fund for the implementation of projects in the action programme.

III-7. Phnom Penh International Forum on Demining and Victim Assistance

To follow up on the guidelines adopted at the 1997 Tokyo Conference on Anti-personnel Landmines, the Phnom Penh International Forum on Mine-clearance and Victim Assistance was held from October 26 to 28, 1998. The forum participants shared the recognition that comprehensive assistance related to the sharing of experience and know-how among countries affected by landmines (promotion of South-South cooperation), development and reconstruction after mine clearance, and the reintegration into society of rehabilitated mine victims were very important. Japan contributed to the success of the forum through financial (US$300,000) and other support. Using its assistance to Cambodia as a model, Japan announced at the forum that it would expand its bilateral assistance to other mine-affected countries, stressed the importance of South-South cooperation, and proposed that a focal point should be created for promoting such cooperation.

III-8. Symposium on the prevention and resolution of conflicts in Africa

"International Symposium on the Conflict in Africa and a Culture of Peace and Coexsistence" was held on 15-16 February 2001 in Tokyo, as an undertaking under the Japan-Africa Exchange Forum for fiscal 2000. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) of Japan and the Japan Institute of International Affairs co-sponsored this symposium.

It was participated by former Heads of State and former ministers from African countries, and experts of African issues from the United Nations, UNESCO, as well as universities, research institutes, and NGOs in Africa, Japan, Europe and United States.

Based on the recognition that there is the need to address conflict prevention and resolution in Africa from a long term approach and to construct a culture of peace and coexistence in order to establish firm and lasting peace, the Symposium discussed how to foster a "culture of peace and coexistence" from the perspective of a comprehinsive approach to conflict prevention as well as the roles of African "civil society" in building a "culture of peace and coexisitence".

The Government of Japan organized the Tokyo International Conference on Preventive Strategy in 1998, and international symposiums in 1995 and 1996 and 2000 on conflicts in Africa, as undertakings under the Japan-Africa Exchange Forum, which examined a range of issues, from the causes, prevention, resolution of conflicts, and post-conflict nation building to the roles of subregional organizations and NGOs in Africa.

III-9. Workshop/Symposium on the Reintegration of Former Child Soldiers

"International Workshop/Symposium on Children and Armed Conflict---Reintegration of Former Child Soldiers in the Post-Conflict Community" was hild in Tokyo from 19 to 21 November, 2000. The Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Foundation for Advanced Studies on International Development (FASID), and Search for Common Ground (a US NGO) co-sponsored this Workshop/Symposium.

The Workshop/Symposium was participated by experts from the United Nations, UNICEF, academic circles including universities and research institutes, and NGOs who are actually engaged in assisting the reintegration of former child soldiers in Africa.

The participants at the Workshop took up assistance for the reintegration of former child soldiers, which is considered to be an important agenda from the standpoint of long-term development and the prevention of recurrence of conflict in such a conflict-prone region as Africa, and examined guidelines to be taken into consideration in carrying out reintegration assistance, and made recommendations to the Government of Japan.

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