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Reuters

Japan has approved a plan for its troops in South Sudan on UN operations to conduct rescue missions - a role that also would theoretically oblige them to jointly defend peacekeepers’ camps under attack, alongside foreign soldiers.
The new rescue role comes amid critics’ concerns the move risks embroiling Japanese soldiers in their first overseas fighting since the second world war.
The new mandate, which will apply to troops to be dispatched to South Sudan from November 20, is in line with security legislation enacted last year to expand the overseas role of Japan’s Self-Defence Forces (SDF), as the military is known.
“South Sudan cannot assure its peace and stability on its own and for that very reason, a U.N. peacekeeping operation is being conducted,” Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told a parliamentary committee on Tuesday.
“The SDF ... is carrying out activities that only it can do in a tough environment.”



The Japanese troops are in South Sudan primarily to help build infrastructure in the war-torn country, but under the new mission will be allowed to respond to urgent calls from UN staff and non-governmental organisation (NGO) personnel.
Regional rival China has a considerable peacekeeper presence in South Sudan, numbering more than 1,000, according to UN figures in August.
Japan to expand Djibouti military base in eastern Africa to counter growing Chinese influence
The Japanese government has been trying to downplay the notion that its new mission would be highly dangerous, saying that SDF members will only be called upon if South Sudan authorities or other UN troops responsible for security enforcement cannot respond and that they will not act in situations beyond their ability.
Japan’s Defence Minister Tomomi Inada has said the government does not envision Japanese troops rescuing other foreign troops.



“I want to point out that our country is sending an engineer unit (tasked to build roads and other infrastructure). Any rescue mission would be conducted only to the extent possible in practical terms, while ensuring the safety of the personnel,” Inada said at a recent press conference.
In the rescue mission, SDF members can fire warning shots to make an armed group or rioters back off. They can also return fire if they are attacked or feel life-threatening danger. Previously, the use of weapons by SDF personnel during UN peacekeeping missions had been limited to strict self-defence purposes and to avert danger.
The SDF members are also tasked with playing a bigger role in the protection of UN peacekeepers’ camps as they will be allowed to jointly defend the areas with troops from other nations even if SDF members are not the direct targets of attacks.

The government has also said it will be difficult for SDF members, while on a mission to undertake engineering work for infrastructure building, to go to the protection of others when fierce fighting is taking place, as seen in Juba in July. Two Chinese peacekeepers died that month after an attack on an armoured vehicle that was guarding a refugee camp near the UN compound in the South Sudanese capital.
The activities of the next batch of Japanese troops, composed mainly of members of the GSDF’s 5th Infantry Regiment, will be limited to operations in Juba and nearby areas. They will be prepared to perform rescue missions from December 12, when they officially take over the job from the current 350-member unit.
Opponents of the move fear the mission will ensnare Japanese troops in fighting for the first time since the second world war.

“Security is a concern. If it weren’t dangerous, why would they need to carry guns?” said Kiro Chikazawa, a Tokyo civil servant who took part in a small protest near Abe’s office.
Other critics say the deployment violates conditions for peacekeeping operations set in line with Japan’s pacifist constitution.
“It goes without saying that the operation must be executed within the confines of the constitution and pertinent Japanese laws,” said an October editorial by the Asahi newspaper.
“But now, South Sudan is effectively in a state of civil war,” the paper added.
“Such being the case, we must opposed the assignment of rush-and rescue operations to the SDF.”
A civil conflict erupted in South Sudan in December 2013, but President Salva Kiir and his rival, former vice president Riek Machar signed, a peace deal in 2015 that was meant to halt the fighting. The agreement failed to stick. Machar has since left the country and sporadic clashes have continued.
Additional reporting by Kyodo


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United Nations

Would Japanese troops come to China’s aid if its UN peacekeepers come under attack?

A Japanese ground Self-Defence Force troop stands guard during peacekeeping operations in Juba, South Sudan. Photo: Kyodo

Personnel of Japan's Ground Self-Defense Force take part on Oct. 24, 2016 in a training exercise for two kinds of protection mission they could newly engage in during U.N. peacekeeping operations in South Sudan from November. The training session in northeast Japan was partially opened to the media. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

People stage a rally in front of the prime minister's office in Tokyo on Nov. 15, 2016, against the government decision to assign to Self-Defense Forces personnel a controversial new security duty to be carried out during U.N. peacekeeping operations in conflict-mired South Sudan. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

Peacekeeper troops from China deployed by the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), patrol on foot outside the premises of the UN Protection of Civilians (PoC) site in Juba, South Sudan, on October 4, 2016. According to the UN, due to the increase of sexual violence outside the PoC, UNMISS has intensified its patrols in and around the protection sites, as well as in the wider Juba city area, sometimes arranging special escorts for women and young girls. / AFP PHOTO / ALBERT GONZALEZ FARRAN

FILE - In this Monday, July 25, 2016 file photo, a United Nations armored personnel carrier stands in a camp for the internally-displaced in Juba, South Sudan. An independent investigation released Tuesday, Nov. 1, 2016, of attacks in July on a U.N. compound in South Sudan housing 27,000 displaced people, and a private compound not far away housing U.N. staff and aid workers, is sharply critical of the U.N. peacekeeping mission's leadership and the response by troops from China, Ethiopia, Nepal and India. (AP Photo/Jason Patinkin, File)

File photo taken in October 2016 in the northeastern Japan prefecture of Iwate shows the Ground Self-Defense Force troops demonstrating to the media exercises for new protection missions it could engage in during U.N. peacekeeping operations in South Sudan. The government decided on Nov. 15 to assign to the GSDF personnel the controversial security duty. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

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Japan approves additional role for its troops in South Sudan, with limits
