Cablegate: Tokyo Media Reaction - Darfur Violence

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PP RUEHFK RUEHKSO RUEHNAG RUEHNH
DE RUEHKO #3575 2180656
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P 060656Z AUG 07
FM AMEMBASSY TOKYO
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UNCLAS TOKYO 003575

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STATE FOR I/RF, PA/PR/FPC/W, IIP/G/EA, EAP/PD, R/MR,
EAP/J, EAP/P, PM;
USTR FOR PUBLIC AFFAIRS OFFICE;
TREASURY FOR OASIA/IMI;
SECDEF FOR OASD/PA;
CP BUTLER OKINAWA FOR AREA FIELD OFFICE;
PACOM HONOLULU FOR PUBLIC DIPLOMACY ADVISOR

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: OIIP KMDR KPAO JA
SUBJECT: TOKYO MEDIA REACTION - DARFUR VIOLENCE

LEAD STORIES: Most Monday morning papers gave top play
to PM Abe's meeting in Hiroshima on Sunday, the eve of
the 62nd anniversary of the atomic bombing of the city,
with representatives of seven groups of atomic bomb
survivors, during which he pledged to review the GOJ's
criteria for recognizing whether those survivors suffer
from radiation diseases and are thus eligible for
special medical allowances. Abe reportedly apologized
for former Defense Minister Kyuma's remarks terming the
atomic bombings "unavoidable."

"Resolve of the International Community Tested" The
conservative Sankei editorialized (8/6): "The United
Nations Security Council (UNSC) unanimously adopted a
resolution to send a UN-African Union hybrid force
known as UNAMID on a peacekeeping mission to Darfur,
western Sudan. The violence in Darfur, which erupted
into fighting between the Sudanese government and pro-
government militias and anti-government forces in 2003,
has claimed the lives of over 200,000 people and
displaced more than 2 million others. It has been
called the worst humanitarian crisis in the world at
present. Although the UNSC adopted a resolution in
August 2006 for a peacekeeping mission in Darfur, the
Sudanese government rejected the mission, claiming that
it would violate its sovereignty and only lead to an
increase in the number of victims. We welcome the
Sudanese government's acceptance, late though it is, of
the peacekeeping mission through the good offices of UN
Secretary General Ban and other officials as the first

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step toward ending the violence.... The peacekeeping
mission in Darfur cannot be allowed to fail, as the
credibility of the entire UN is on the line."

SCHIEFFER

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