International
Japan to send peacekeepers to E Timor http://www.ndtv.com/morenews/showmorestory.asp?slug=Japan+to+send+peacekeepers+to+E+Timor&id=100009
Associated Press
Friday, January 26, 2007 (Tokyo):
Two Japanese civilian police officers will be sent to East Timor next week in response to a United Nations request for help with peacekeeping operations.
The officers are scheduled to leave on Wednesday for the East Timorese capital Dili.
They will serve as special advisers to the top police official of the UN Integrated Mission in Timor-Leste, Cabinet official Mamoru Nakajima said.
They are due to arrive on February 2, he said.
Three liaison and coordination officers will also be sent on the same day to help set up the Dili office, Nakajima said.
UNMIT was launched last August in response to violent clashes between rival factions in the East Timor armed forces and national police earlier in 2006.
The officers will be the third Japanese police dispatch to take part in a UN peacekeeping operation, following a 1992-1993 mission to Cambodia and a 1999 mission also to East Timor.