Japan to "bribe" Ghana with food?

TOKYO, March 17 -- Japan plans to give $19.1 million in food aid to Ghana and some other nations as part of its bid to win a seat on the U.N. Security Council.

Japanese government sources said the Cabinet was to approve the aid package, which would be carried out through the U.N. World Food Program, the Mainichi Shimbun reported Thursday.

Besides Ghana, the other nations to receive the aid are Mali, Burkina Faso, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Rwanda, Burundi, Congo and Mozambique, and seven others in other parts of the world.

About $12.9 million of the $19.1 million aid package is intended for the nine African countries, the sources said.

The aid money will be used to buy food such as rice, wheat and corn.