Japan's Okinawa demands US rein in troops after alleged rape

AFP

Feb 14, 2008

NAHA, Japan (AFP) — Japan's southern island of Okinawa on Thursday demanded the US military rein in the thousands of troops stationed there after an American Marine was arrested for allegedly raping a local girl.

The Okinawa assembly unanimously adopted a resolution urging the US military to improve ethical training for its forces after the alleged rape of the 14-year-old on Sunday.

"Okinawa prefecture has repeatedly demanded stricter discipline for US servicemen and action to prevent criminal offences, but still an incident like this happened. We feel fierce anger," said assembly member Seiichi Oyakawa, reading out the resolution.

"We demand the US government take effective and specific preventive actions that are clear to the eyes of the people of Okinawa, such as carrying out thorough human rights training for US soldiers," he said.

More than 40,000 US troops are stationed in Japan to defend its key Asian ally, which has been officially pacifist since World War II.

US Ambassador Thomas Schieffer flew Wednesday to Okinawa to express sorrow over the incident and promise to review ethical training for troops.
Okinawa Governor Hirokazu Nakaima, who met with Schieffer, on Thursday held talks in Tokyo with Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda.

"I told him that the pent-up rage of Okinawan people is flaring up in an extremely tense way," Nakaima told reporters after meeting with Fukuda.
Fukuda said separately that the central government "must work with the people of Okinawa to do something about this."

Staff Sergeant Tyrone Luther Hadnott, 38, was arrested on Monday over allegations that he raped the girl in his car on the island. He has admitted trying to forcibly kiss her and groping her but denied raping her.

The incident rekindled memories of the gang-rape in 1995 of a 12-year-old girl by three US soldiers, which set off major protests on the island and set in motion a process to reduce the number of US troops there.

The Okinawa assembly's resolution also renewed the local government's call for a reduction in the more than 20,000 US troops stationed on the island.
But opposition assembly members demanded that Nakaima, a government ally, seek tougher action, noting that the US government has promised tighter discipline before.

The Okinawa police have reported to an assembly committee that 14 rapes allegedly by US soldiers have occurred in the tiny province since 1995.
"He has not shown enough anger," opposition assembly member Chosei Taira told AFP.

"We have adopted resolutions of protest over and over again, but they hardly have made any changes," Taira said.

"We demand the entire withdrawal of the US military. Unless all Marines go, we wouldn't be rid of incidents like this no matter how many times we protest."
Nakaima was elected in 2006 promising to improve the island's troubled economy and signalling a more conciliatory policy towards the US military and its global realignment plan.

However, he suggested Thursday that the alleged rape could have a wider impact.
"I am gravely concerned that this can have a ripple effect over the base issue," he said.

Another assemblyman, Tetsuji Shingaki, a member of Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda's Liberal Democratic Party, defended the governor, saying crime by US soldiers is a common problem for all municipalities hosting the troops.
"What we need to do is not let incidents like this happen even if bases are here," he said.

The Japanese and US governments have agreed to transfer 8,000 troops from the island to the US territory of Guam while relocating a controversial air station from the densely populated Ginowan city to another Okinawa city.