Japan will send two Self-Defense Force members to a multinational peacekeeping force in Egypt in mid-April, their first dispatch to an overseas mission that is not under the command of the United Nations, the government said Tuesday.
The government is accelerating its preparation for Cabinet approval in late March for the dispatch of the SDF members to the command of the Multinational Force and Observers on the Sinai Peninsula.
(File photo of Japan's Ground Self-Defense Force members on a U.N. peacekeeping mission in Juba, South Sudan in 2016)
If the dispatch through November is realized, it will mark the first application of Japan's new security legislation that has expanded the scope of the SDF's international activities.
The multinational mission, initiated by the United States, has been supervising the implementation of the 1979 peace treaty between Egypt and Israel following the Arab-Israeli War.
The new security law that came into effect in 2016 allows SDF participation in overseas peacekeeping operations even if they are not under the control of the United Nations.
The government sent officials of the Defense Ministry to assess the situation on the Sinai Peninsula earlier this month and judged that the dispatch will not run counter to the five legal requirements governing participation in U.N. peacekeeping.
On Tuesday, it briefed ruling party lawmakers on the security situation of the area and they approved a plan to dispatch the SDF members.
The so-called five principles will be applied when Japan sends SDF members abroad for peacekeeping operations, whether or not they are under U.N. control. The requirements include the existence of a cease-fire agreement among warring parties.
