ID :
120657
Fri, 05/07/2010 - 10:56
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://www.oananews.org//node/120657
The shortlink copeid
Japanese officials to go to Sudan to study possible chopper ops+
TOKYO, May 6 Kyodo - The government is set to send a fact-finding mission to Sudan on Friday to study the feasibility of sending Ground Self-Defense Force helicopters to a U.N. peacekeeping mission operating in the southern part of the African country, government officials said Thursday.
A referendum for the right to self-determination for the people of Southern
Sudan is planned to be held in the country next January, and GSDF helicopters
could be used to help transport ballot boxes under the auspices of the United
Nations.
It would be Japan's first dispatch of helicopters for a U.N. peacekeeping
operation if it is finalized. The GSDF's CH-47 large transport helicopters are
being eyed for the possible mission.
But it remains unclear whether the Cabinet of Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama
would be able to decide on the dispatch at a time when security remains tenuous
in Sudan. A rough consensus among government officials is that a final decision
would not be made until after the House of Councillors election, presumed to be
held in July.
The fact-finding mission will be comprised of officials of the Foreign and
Defense ministries, and staff members of the Cabinet Office's Secretariat for
the International Peace Cooperation Headquarters.
In Sudan, they are expected to consult with officials of the U.N. Mission in
Sudan and Sudanese officials over such a dispatch, the government officials
said.
The coalition government, which is led by Hatoyama's Democratic Party of Japan,
regards U.N. peacekeeping operations as one of the pillars of the international
contributions Japan should undertake actively.
The idea of sending GSDF helicopters to Sudan was studied late last year but
was overshadowed by the urgent need to send Self-Defense Forces personnel to
Haiti in response to the January earthquake that devastated the impoverished
Caribbean nation.
A civil conflict that had lasted more than two decades ended in Sudan in 2005.
While calls for the right to self-determination are growing in Southern Sudan,
tension is rising between the north and south, partly because some inside the
central government in the north want the south, which has rights to oil
resources, to remain part of the country.
The SDF has participated in several U.N. peacekeeping operations, including in
Cambodia, Mozambique, East Timor and Sudan, since a law enabling troop dispatch
for such overseas missions was enacted in 1992.
==Kyodo
A referendum for the right to self-determination for the people of Southern
Sudan is planned to be held in the country next January, and GSDF helicopters
could be used to help transport ballot boxes under the auspices of the United
Nations.
It would be Japan's first dispatch of helicopters for a U.N. peacekeeping
operation if it is finalized. The GSDF's CH-47 large transport helicopters are
being eyed for the possible mission.
But it remains unclear whether the Cabinet of Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama
would be able to decide on the dispatch at a time when security remains tenuous
in Sudan. A rough consensus among government officials is that a final decision
would not be made until after the House of Councillors election, presumed to be
held in July.
The fact-finding mission will be comprised of officials of the Foreign and
Defense ministries, and staff members of the Cabinet Office's Secretariat for
the International Peace Cooperation Headquarters.
In Sudan, they are expected to consult with officials of the U.N. Mission in
Sudan and Sudanese officials over such a dispatch, the government officials
said.
The coalition government, which is led by Hatoyama's Democratic Party of Japan,
regards U.N. peacekeeping operations as one of the pillars of the international
contributions Japan should undertake actively.
The idea of sending GSDF helicopters to Sudan was studied late last year but
was overshadowed by the urgent need to send Self-Defense Forces personnel to
Haiti in response to the January earthquake that devastated the impoverished
Caribbean nation.
A civil conflict that had lasted more than two decades ended in Sudan in 2005.
While calls for the right to self-determination are growing in Southern Sudan,
tension is rising between the north and south, partly because some inside the
central government in the north want the south, which has rights to oil
resources, to remain part of the country.
The SDF has participated in several U.N. peacekeeping operations, including in
Cambodia, Mozambique, East Timor and Sudan, since a law enabling troop dispatch
for such overseas missions was enacted in 1992.
==Kyodo
