Newsletter No. 962
News-Analysis
April 3, 2008

 

THE UN REQUESTS A GSDF DEPLOYMENT TO SOUTHERN SUDAN

We have already been discussing the possibility that Japan might deploy the SDF to southern Sudan. Today comes the news that the UN has sent several requests this year to Tokyo to do just that. They want the GSDF to participate in land mine removal efforts in this African country.

Kyodo News notes that mine removal was precisely what the GSDF had done in its first major peacekeeping operation in Cambodia starting from 1992. They quoted an unidentified Japanese government official as saying: “The SDF has superb mine-removal techniques and is fully capable of operating in Sudan.”

The idea that Japan help in de-mining efforts seems to be something that is good and beneficial. Land mines are pernicious and their removal is necessary. The only problem is that we have yet another case here in which the UN is encouraging Japan to do something that may conflict with the nation’s highest law. The UN seems to be coming down repeatedly on the side of those who argue that Article Nine should be either ignored or “reinterpreted” into practical oblivion. One can question if that is the proper position for the UN to take.

In any case, we are still waiting to see how Tokyo responds to these kinds of requests for SDF deployments to Sudan.