Japan plans to send engineers to South Sudan
4 min readTOKYO — Japan plans to send a 300-strong military engineering team to South Sudan as part of a UN mission to help the African nation build badly needed infrastructure, a report said Saturday.
The government plans to send a preliminary fact-finding mission to South Sudan as early as this month, the Yomiuri Shimbun quoted anonymous government sources as saying.
Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda is to visit New York to attend a meeting of the UN General Assembly this month in his first foreign trip since taking office.
Noda is considering announcing the dispatch plan when he meets UN chief Ban Ki-moon there, the mass-circulation daily said.
Japan plans to send about 300 personnel from the Ground Self-Defense Force engineering unit to the African country to help repair or build roads, bridges and other infrastructure, it said.
During a visit to Japan last month, Ban asked Japan to consider the mission.
South Sudan proclaimed independence from Sudan, Africa’s largest nation, on July 9, when it became the world’s newest country.
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Govt plans to send GSDF to S. Sudan / Engineers to repair roads, bridges
The Yomiuri Shimbun
The government plans to send an engineering unit of the Ground Self-Defense Force to South Sudan to help build infrastructure as part of a U.N. peacekeeping mission in the new African country, government sources have revealed.
Consideration of the specifics of GSDF activities in South Sudan is already under way, and plans are being drawn up to dispatch a fact-finding team there by the end of the month, the sources said Friday.
Preparations are being made for Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda to announce Japan’s readiness to send GSDF members to South Sudan in his scheduled address at the U.N. General Assembly and during talks with U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki Moon on Noda’s trip to the United States starting Tuesday, they said.
The engineering unit will likely comprise about 300 members, according to the sources. They will help improve that country’s infrastructure, including building and repairing roads and bridges.
The unit could be sent to South Sudan as early as within this year, according to the sources.
If the dispatch is realized, it would be the second time for Japan to participate in U.N. peacekeeping operations under a Democratic Party of Japan-led administration, following the ongoing Self-Defense Forces relief operations in earthquake-struck Haiti that began in February 2010.
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Ravaged by civil war
South Sudan separated and became independent from Sudan on July 9 this year, but years of civil war have severely damaged the country.
During a meeting with then Prime Minister Naoto Kan on Aug. 8, Ban strongly urged Japan to send a GSDF engineering unit to the war-ravaged country.
At that time, however, the SDF was busy with rescue and relief efforts following the Great East Japan Earthquake, and Kan’s grip on power was precarious.
In addition, security conditions in the newly born African country were shrouded in uncertainty.
Predominant opinion in the Defense Ministry opposed sending SDF members to South Sudan. As a result, the government only confirmed plans to send a fact-finding team to that country in early September to examine the security situation in and around South Sudan’s new capital of Ramciel, in preparation for possibly sending SDF command personnel there.
By Sept. 9, the SDF had withdrawn from March 11 disaster-hit regions, except for Fukushima Prefecture, and became more flexible in the deployment of its personnel.
The United Nations also reported that security conditions in South Sudan had largely stabilized, the sources said.
The government has therefore decided that sending SDF members to South Sudan at this stage will not violate the country’s five principles governing participation in U.N.-sponsored peacekeeping activities, which include the strict political neutrality of SDF troops.
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Repaying the world
Some within the government feel the prime minister should use his visit to the United States as his diplomatic debut, and show Japan’s readiness to repay the world for its assistance in the wake of the March earthquake and tsunami disaster.
A final government decision on whether to send a GSDF engineering unit to South Sudan will be made by studying the reports of the fact-finding team, the sources said.
One government source stressed that sending SDF personnel to South Sudan will “provide an excellent chance to demonstrate Japan’s presence in the international community.”
Following the March 11 disaster and the decline in Japan’s economic strength, the country has been seen as internally oriented, the source said.
Also behind the idea of sending SDF peacekeeping personnel to South Sudan is Japan’s hope to obtain support from African countries in securing natural resources and its bid to receive a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council, the sources said.
Sending SDF members will help boost Japan’s ties with countries in Africa, where China has been rapidly expanding its influence, they said.
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T110917002881.htm
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