H.E. Mr. Hisashi Owada

Permanent Representative of Japan

At the Meeting of the Security Council on the Situation in Africa

24 April 1998

I should like to begin my statement by commending the report of the Secretary-General on Africa for the comprehensiveness of its coverage, for the incisiveness of its analysis and for the opportuneness of many of its recommendations. Against the background of many challenges that Africa faces today, it is incumbent upon us in the United Nations to analyse the conceptual framework of cooperative actions that are needed by the international community in addressing these challenges cutting across the political and economic vista of Africa, and to identify the role of the United Nations in our joint endeavor to translate this conceptual framework into concrete action.

In saying this, I wish to make clear that for today I shall confine myself to those aspects of the Secretary-General’s report which fall properly within the purview of the Security Council, and leave the detailed treatment of other equally important aspects of the report which would more appropriately be considered within the framework of other organs of the United Nations, while confirming my conviction that in executing our strategy for Africa which is afflicted with a complex of problems that are organically linked, a holistic approach is absolutely essential.

In the brave new world of the post-Cold War era, where we are witnessing challenges to peace and security emerging at the intra-state level, as much as at the international level, and where military means cannot be the only or even the predominant tool for maintaining peace and security, we are bound to approach the issue of how to maintain international peace and security in a much wider context that would encompass political, economic, social and even cultural factors. The proper execution of the role of the Security Council with its primary responsibility for the maintenance of peace and security can only be fulfilled on this conceptual recognition. It was based on precisely this line of thought that the Presidential Statement issued at the ministerial level meeting of the Security Council last September called upon the Secretary-General to take a comprehensive approach when preparing the report that is now before us.

There is no question whatsoever that one of the most urgent tasks that the international community faces on the eve of its entry into the 21st century has to be the problem of how best to respond to the situation in Africa, where numerous conflicts have been afflicting the people of this vast Continent in an environment fraught with the problems of economic and social development as well as the issue of governance. I say this for the following reasons:

First, the basic instability in much of the political fabric of Africa, due largely to intra-state and regional conflicts, can have a direct and serious bearing on international peace and security.

Second, stagnation in economic development of Africa, if left unattended, will not only produce a crippling effect upon the world economic system, but will lead to a situation where social grievances and discontent on a global level, emanating from the marginalization and further alienation of this Continent could bring about a serious social instability on a global scale. By contrast, the full integration of the African continent into the world economic system through participation of the peoples of Africa in the expansion of global prosperity could have an enormously beneficial effect on the world as a whole.

The "strategic framework approach" encompassing the political, developmental, and humanitarian fields, which the Secretary-General proposes in his report, has Japan’s full support. In fact, that is exactly what Japan has been consistently advocating as a centerpiece for a new strategy for Africa, ever since it embarked upon the first Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD I) in 1993. For the last several years since a new opportunity surfaced for Africa as a result of the demise of the East-West confrontation, Japan has been emphasizing that in coping with the African problem, political and military aspects of conflict prevention, socioeconomic development, and the realization of a society in which diversity in political values should be tolerated must be pursued in an organically integrated manner. It is incumbent upon the international community to promote cooperation toward that end, based on this new and common strategy.

In undertaking these efforts, Japan hopes to serve as a catalyst for international cooperation on Africa according to a unified strategy, with the United Nations playing a central coordinating role. In so doing, it wishes to emphasize the following three points:

First, in order to respond effectively to the situation in Africa, activities of the various bodies of the United Nations, as well as the OAU, ECOWAS and other regional and sub-regional organizations in Africa, engaged in pursuing the goals of prevention and early resolution of conflicts and post-conflict peace-building, together with activities of the World Bank, IMF and the international community at large pursuing developmental goals, should be integrally coordinated in a mutually reinforcing and complementary manner, and should be closely interrelated on the basis of a unified comprehensive strategy. The metaphor of a chamber orchestra comes to mind, where each instrument has its own very specific but essential part to play in order to produce a single harmonious symphonic work.

Second, this comprehensive strategy should be based upon the principle of responsibility sharing among all the countries, in accordance with the comcept of global partnership. In this context, the most appropriate center for creating momentum for summoning the necessary political will of the international community, including African countries on the basis of the concept of ownership, so that the numerous actors may play their respective roles under this common strategy, should be the United Nations.

Third, for the implementation of this strategy, it will be necessary to make an individualized pragmatic approach, devising most appropriate ways of dealing with the particular circumstances of each conflict and responding to each country’s specific needs.

It is with those three aspects in mind that Japan has been addressing the problem of conflict prevention and resolution in Africa through such initiatives as the Tokyo Conference on Preventive Strategy in January this year on the political front, and the problem of development through such undertakings as the Second Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD II) in October of this year on the economic front.

Against this background, Japan believes that the Secretary-General’s report is most opportune in the context of the serious and gigantic challenges that the international community as a whole faces in relation to Africa. The fact that the report has generated so much interest inside and outside the United Nations is an eloquent testimony to the degree of awareness within the international community about the urgent need for intensified international cooperation on Africa at this moment. The issue now is how to put this momentum into concrete action through implementing these wise words of counsel contained in the recommendations.

At this juncture, let me now touch only upon some of the more salient recommendations contained in the report.

First, the problem of trade in arms has to be squarely tackled by the international community if we are serious about what we are saying in defense of peace and stability in Africa. Indeed, the increasing flow of arms into the African Continent is one of the main factors responsible for the tragic situations in the region. Those who export arms to Africa should feel a major responsibility for this situation. Japan believes that we in the Security-Council should take this situation in all seriousness and seek for effective ways of monitoring the activities involved in the export of small arms. Japan, as a country which strictly maintains its "Three Principles of Non-Export of Arms" which effectively prohibit the export of arms anywhere, is convinced that it is high time the international community addressed this fundamental root cause of the many tragedies affecting Africa, as well as anywhere else in the world torn with conflicts.

Second, in the same context, the United Nations Register of Conventional Arms, created by the initiative of Japan in collaboration with the European Community in 1991, can more profitably be utilized in containing potential as well as actual conflicts in Africa. Enhancing transparency in the respective defense capabilities of nations can be an important means of building confidence among neighboring countries, and can be instrumental in preventing undue diversion of precious resources for excessive defense capabilities, at the expense of socio-economic development efforts. In view of this, I should like to request that this system of Register be more fully implemented throughout the world but more particularly in relation to Africa. The idea of establishing supplementary regional and subregional registers of conventional arms, as the Secretary-General suggests, is worth early implementation.

Third, in today’s world where the use of force as an enforcement measure is becoming increasingly difficult, Japan considers that non-military sanctions can prove to be useful, provided that they are applied judiciously and in a targeted manner. In applying a sanction, three major factors will have to be kept closely in mind: its appropriateness in relation to the desired objective, its effectiveness in implementation on the part of participating parties and its impact upon the humanitarian situation in the targeted country. Thus it is the considered view of Japan that the international community should conduct a thorough study of these different aspects of the sanction, so that the sanction can be a truly useful and effective instrument for enforcing peace with justice upon the party in breach of the sacred obligations under the Charter. The recommendation of the Secretary-General on this score contains interesting suggestions which merit our serious consideration.

Fourth, on the humanitarian front, I should like to emphasize that in considering humanitarian assistance to the civilian population who is the victim of conflicts, it is essential to take into account, from the very beginning and in a long-term perspective, the requirement of post-conflict peace-building efforts. Through all the stages of conflict management, from the stage of conflict prevention to the peace-making, to peace-keeping, and to post-conflict peace-building, the whole process has to be looked at as a process in continuum and to be treated in an integral manner in our consideration of conflict management in Africa.

Fifth, in the same vein, it is important to realize that we have been recently witnessing an unfortunate trend where humanitarian activities are faced with serious problems of security which critically hamper the activities of these humanitarian missions. In fact, they are often in need of support and protection by military components of peace-keeping operations. Increasingly, protection by the military components is becoming necessary in order, for example, to ensure the distribution of humanitarian relief supplies, or to separate the innocent civilian refugees from ex-combatants and criminals in refugee camps. It is Japan’s strong belief that we in the Security Council must focus much more attention to this issue on an urgent basis.

I have so far tried to pick up only a few of what my delegation regards as more important aspects of the report of the Secretary-General. However, the report is so rich in its contents as well as in its implications, that to draw concrete conclusions by way of policy recommendations of the Security Council through an open debate of a day or two will simply not suffice. In view of this and in light of the importance of this report before us, I should like to suggest that a working group be established in the Security Council to study in depth each and every recommendation contained in the report of the Secretary-General and to devise a plan of concrete action that might be taken by the Security Council. The Security Council can oversee this process, reviewing the progress made by the working group on a regular basis. The outcome of this exercise could then be submitted to the Security Council for consideration at a meeting convened possibly at the ministerial level in September.

In concluding my statement today, I should like to underscore the importance of mobilizing the political will of all the participants in the process, whether in Africa or on other continents, to address resolutely the myriads of problems that the Continent of Africa faces today. In fact it is almost trite to emphasize the critical importance of the political will. However, it is important to bear in mind that it is so easy to speak of the importance of the political will, especially of others but not of one’s own. What is needed now is the commitment on the part of each one of us to mobilizing the political will of our own. As I have stated earlier, Japan has been offering its share of contribution to the conflict prevention and development in Africa through various means available to itself. In fact, in the last five years, we in Japan have been offering our sweat and toil, amounting to 5.4 billion US dollars. I wish to conclude my statement by offering the pledge of the people of Japan that we in Japan will continue to work with people in Africa for the peace and development of Africa.