Japanese defence chief outlines new responsibilities for troops sent to South Sudan
It is the first time that SDF troops have been given a mandate to carry out expanded tasks under Japan’s new security legislation
Japanese Defence Minister Tomomi Inada on Saturday emphasised the importance of new responsibilities assigned to the Ground Self-Defence Force, prior to the departure of personnel for a UN peacekeeping mission in South Sudan.
The government decided on Tuesday to assign the new responsibilities – rescuing UN staff and others under attack, and playing a bigger role in the protection of UN peacekeepers’ camps – to the GSDF unit, which is primarily tasked with building roads and other infrastructure in conflict-mired South Sudan.
“It will embark on a new step in the history of the Self-Defence Forces’ international peacekeeping cooperation,” Inada said at a send-off ceremony at the GSDF’s Aomori garrison in the northeastern Japan city of Aomori.
It will embark on a new step in the history of the Self-Defence Forces’ international peacekeeping cooperation
The unit of about 350 members will be dispatched to South Sudan in groups starting Sunday. Of the total, around 60 members from the GSDF’s 5th Infantry Regiment, based in Aomori, have been assigned the new tasks.
The team is the 11th batch for Japanese peacekeeping activities in South Sudan since 2012 under the UN mission, called UNMISS. The troops will be prepared to perform the new assignments from December 12, when they officially take over from the current 10th unit.
A group of citizens gathered outside JR Aomori Station to protest against the new assignments, holding a banner proclaiming: “Do not send the SDF members to South Sudan!”
It is the first time that SDF troops have been given a mandate to carry out expanded tasks under Japan’s new security legislation that came into force in March. The new assignments are in line with broadened criteria covering the use of weapons.