Monday, June 30, 2003
Japan to send troops to Iraq: Report
Agence France-Presse Tokyo, June 30
Japan plans to send more than 1,000 troops to Iraq to help rebuild the war-torn country under new legislation expected to pass by late July, a report said on Monday.
As a first step, some 500 ground self-defence force troops, the core of the Japanese mission, are likely to be deployed starting in early October, the Tokyo newspaper said.
The troops are expected to supply fuel and water to US forces and citizens in Baghdad, the daily said, citing a defence agency outline on reconstruction efforts in Iraq.
Japanese and US officials plan to discuss the details based on the outline in a meeting on Monday, the report said.
The air self-defence force will send three C-130 transport planes while the maritime self-defence force will deploy an amphibious ship and a destroyer, according to the paper.
In all, the number of Japanese SDF personnel is likely to top 1,000, the newspaper said.
A defence agency spokesman declined to confirm the report.
"We cannot comment as the issue has been under deliberation in the diet," the spokesman said.
Japan's parliament has debated a bill that would authorise the dispatch of troops to Iraq to help reconstruction efforts but limit their activities to humanitarian and reconstruction assistance in "no-combat areas".
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's Liberal Democratic Party gave the green light for a draft bill after deleting a provision that Japanese troops would be involved in disposing of abandoned weapons of mass destruction (WMD).
© Hindustan Times Ltd. 2003. Reproduction in any form is prohibited without prior permission