Inada orders GSDF to pull out engineering troops from S. Sudan

March 25, 2017

Tokyo- Japanese Defense Minister Tomomi Inada ordered the Ground Self-Defense Force on Friday to withdraw its engineering troops taking part in a UN peacekeeping mission in South Sudan by the end of May.

Based on the order, the GSDF engineering unit will start withdrawal work in April.

At a cabinet meeting earlier in the day, the Japanese government decided to extend by two months the dispatch period of the unit that was earlier slated to end on March 31 and to send additional aircraft to the strife-torn African country for the unit’s pullout.

At a meeting held at the Defense Ministry, Inada said, “I highly appreciate efforts by each member of the unit.”

The ministry and the Self-Defense Forces will work together for withdrawing the troops while ensuring their safety, she added.

The unit comprises some 350 members, mostly from the GSDF’s 9th Division in the northeastern Japan city of Aomori.

The troops, who have been working mainly to improve roads and other infrastructure in the South Sudanese capital of Juba and its vicinity as part of the UN Mission in South Sudan, or UNMISS, will start to pull out after completing their current operations.

Japan will additionally dispatch some 60 personnel to South Sudan to assist the withdrawal.

Meanwhile, the government decided to extend the dispatch period for GSDF personnel stationed at the UNMISS command by 11 months until the end of February 2018.

The dispatch of personnel to the UNMISS command and engineering troops started in November 2011 and January 2012, respectively.

The total number of GSDF troops sent to South Sudan for the UN mission has reached some 4,000 over the five-year-plus period.

Based on Japan’s national security legislation, which took effect in March last year, the current GSDF unit in South Sudan has been given new duties, including coming to rescue UN workers and others under armed attack. Jiji Press