Japans commits to helping Africa win permanent UN Security Council seats

Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (centre) speaks beside African Union Chairperson and Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi (3rd Left), African Union Committee Chairperson Moussa Faki (3rd right) and officials during a joint press conference of the seventh Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) in Yokohama on August 30, 2019. [AFP]

African Heads of State, the government of Japan and representatives of international organisations who participated in the seventh Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD 7) conference last week in Yokohama, Japan, through the adoption of the Yokohama Declaration of 2019, have committed to push for the inclusion of at least two African countries as permanent members of the United Nations Security Council.

In this endeavor, African countries, including Kenya, are banking heavily on the support of the Japanese government and influence of regional and international institutions such as the African Union.