Eritrea’s Foreign Minister Osman Saleh traveled to Tunisia at the end of August to attend the 8th Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD), which concluded on August 28.
The Japan-Africa forum, launched triennially in 1993, was titled in the 2022 edition as “Discussing how to create a sustainable world together, in the complex context of the Covid epidemic and the situation in Ukraine.” The proceedings were opened by Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida – online from Japan – who recalled his country’s determination to give Africa official representation in the UN Security Council (https://www.nigrizia.it/notizia/giappone-africa-rapporti-alla-pari).
Eritrea’s foreign minister, on the other hand, spoke on August 28, with a speech in which he wanted to take stock of the work done by TICAD from its first edition to the present. The African continent, Saleh said, has been the victim over the past 30 years of the hegemonic and economically exploitative aims of narrow interests, suffering continuous violations of international law, arbitrary sanctions and the trampling of the independence and sovereignty of its peoples and nations. This situation, however obvious the responsibilities of some major global players, cannot absolve African countries from their responsibilities as well.
Change will be possible, the minister added, “only when the shared values and goals that we collectively value are examined with the necessary seriousness” (https://shabait.com/2022/08/28/foreign-minister-osman-salehs-statement-at-ticad-conference/). This requires moving in the direction of “more articulated, impactful and measurable programs in terms of infrastructure, energy, water and agriculture, industry,” as well as on education and health.
