GROUND SELF-DEFENSE FORCE TO BE SENT TO SINAI PENINSULA
The Yomiuri Shimbun
The government plans to send Ground Self-Defense Force members to the Sinai Peninsula in eastern Egypt to monitor a ceasefire between the Israeli and Egyptian militaries as part of the Multinational Force and Observers, multiple government sources said.
This would be the first time for the government to apply new provisions on internationally coordinated operations for peace and security (see below) that were part of the security-related laws that went into force in March 2016. The deployment could happen as early as spring.
The government decided to respond to a request from the MFO because it believes helping maintain the ceasefire between Israel and Egypt is important to ensuring a stable supply of energy from the Middle East, which Japan relies on for energy.
A four-minister meeting of the National Security Council is expected to be held soon to make a final decision on the deployment.
The plan would involve sending two GSDF members to the MFO’s local command post in Sharm El-Sheikh on the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula.
The two members would serve in liaison and coordination roles. The government is working with the MFO to move the deployment up from around summer, which is what was initially envisioned, the sources said.
The government has been considering dispatching GSDF members to the MFO since last year, though the request for headquarters staff was announced Jan. 22.
To confirm the local security situation, Kentaro Sonoura, a special advisor to the prime minister in charge of national security, visited Sharm El-Sheikh, an MFO base in northern Sinai Peninsula and other sites on Feb. 2-3.
Sonoura observed the base’s safety policies, including its robust protective measures, and found the area around Sharm El-Sheikh to be stable, based on which the government determined the GSDF members would be safe there.
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