Japan to pledge US$1b for Sahel security, stabilisation
The money is part of a US$14 billion aid package to be given to Africa over five years, which Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced Saturday at the start of the Tokyo International Conference on African Development.
Japan said Sunday it would give US$1 billion in aid to help stabilise the Islamist-infested Sahel region of Africa, months after the deaths of 10 Japanese in a hostage crisis there.
The money is part of a US$14 billion aid package to be given to Africa over five years, which Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced Saturday at the start of the Tokyo International Conference on African Development.
“Japan will provide 100 billion yen (US$1 billion) in assistance over five years for the development and stability of the Sahel,” Abe told a gathering of African leaders in Tokyo.
The cash comes in addition to a US$120 million aid pledge Tokyo announced in January, days after Islamist gunmen overran a gas plant in the Algerian desert, killing dozens of foreigners.
The four-day crisis ended with bodies and blood when Algerian commandos stormed the plant.
Graphic pictures and accounts that emerged in the days after the assault invoked executions and sent a collective shudder through Japan, whose energy and infrastructure firms are active in the region.
Japan’s body count of 10 was the highest of any nation whose citizens were caught up in the crisis and an unusual taste of Jihadist anger for a country that has remained far removed from US-led wars in the Muslim world.