SDF Personnel to Be Sent to U.S. Command Center over Ebola

Tokyo, Oct. 19 (Jiji Press)--Japan's Defense Ministry is considering dispatching Self-Defense Forces personnel to the U.S. military's command center in Germany for the fight against the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, ministry sources said Sunday. SDF personnel will be sent to the command center within this week at the earliest to gather information on the situation in affected countries including Liberia, the sources said. Based on the information, the ministry will study support measures, including dispatching SDF troops to these countries, the sources said. The U.S. military has approved plans to send up to 4,000 troops to West Africa for the construction of treatment facilities and other measures to contain the crisis. Some of the troops have already started working there. In phone talks on Wednesday, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and U.S. President Barack Obama confirmed that the two countries will work closely together to help prevent the spread of the deadly disease. Abe pledged to study Japan's additional support to combat the crisis at a two-day summit of the Asia-Europe Meeting, or ASEM, forum in Milan, Italy, through Friday. END