Japan to continue the UN United Nations peacekeeping mission in South Sudan 2512131

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Defence & Security News - Japan

 
 
Wednesday, December 25, 2013 10:39 AM
 
Japan to continue the UN United Nations peacekeeping mission in South Sudan.
Japan will continue to join the UN peacekeeping mission in South Sudan, a government spokesman said Wednesday, December 25, 2013. "We will continue to contribute to the nation-building of South Sudan along with the international society," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a press conference.
     
Japan will continue to join the UN peacekeeping mission in South Sudan, a government spokesman said Wednesday, December 25, 2013. "We will continue to contribute to the nation-building of South Sudan along with the international society," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a press conference.
Japanese engineering peacekeepers serving with the United Nations Mission in the Republic of South Sudan (UNMISS) work on upgrading the surface of Yei Road
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Japan has dispatched a team of its Ground Self-Defense Force ( GSDF) members to South Sudan since November 2011 and was helping build infrastructure in the capital city of Juba.

The UN Security Council on Tuesday approved a recommendation to almost double the UN peacekeeping forces in the conflict-torn South Sudan to better protect civilians from violence.

The resolution reinforces the strength of UN mission to 12,500 troops and 1,323 police from its previous mandate of over 6,800 troops and police as thousands of civilians in the world's youngest country were seeking refuge at UN bases.

Suga welcomed the decision, but downplayed the possibility that Japan may send more GSDF personnel to South Sudan.

Japan is to supply arms to UN peacekeepers in South Sudan for the first time, marking another step in its increasingly assertive foreign policy under Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

Under the plan, approved on Monday by the Cabinet Office, Japan is to provide South Korean forces in South Sudan with about 10,000 rounds of rifle ammunition without charge, to meet a shortage identified by troops deployed in the eastern state of Jonglei, where clashes bewteen rival factions have left at least 500 people dead and hundreds wounded.

Around 350 Japanese soldiers are deployed in South Sudan in operations such as construction and maintaining infrastructure.