Japan hosted African leaders on Wednesday for a three-day development conference, offering itself as an alternative to China as the continent reels from a debt crisis exacerbated by Western aid cuts, conflict and climate change.

Attendees at the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) included Nigerian President Bola Tinubu, South Africa's Cyril Ramaphosa, William Ruto of Kenya and UN head Antonio Guterres.

"The debt and liquidity crisis on the African continent is worsening the challenging socio-economic environment and constraining the fiscal space for governments to cast a safety net over its citizens," Ramaphosa's office said in a statement.

China has invested heavily in Africa over the past decade, with its companies there signing deals worth hundreds of billi

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