Japanese research group visits Sudanese refugee quarters

CAIRO, July 30 Kyodo - A team of Japanese officials arrived in the Egyptian capital Tuesday to conduct research on dispatching defense personnel to U.N. peacekeeping operations in Sudan and visited quarters in Cairo, where Sudanese refugees have been living.

The 11-member team, including seven Self-Defense Force officials, also visited a peacekeeping operation training center for PKO personnel, where Japan is planning to send SDF officers as instructors.

In the refugee quarters in northeastern Cairo, the Japanese officials inspected a school, a healthcare institution and a nursery run by nongovernmental organizations.

Ahead of the team's trip to Sudan on Wednesday, Col. Shinichi Hineno of the Defense Ministry's Joint Staff Office told reporters, ''We would like to get a firm image of the circumstances in which the UNMIS headquarters are operating, as well as the types of mission they are engaged in.''UNMIS stands for the U.N. Mission in Sudan.

A Japanese Defense Ministry official in the delegation said the purpose of their trip this time is not to conduct research on specific operations for possible future troop dispatch.

The United Nations reportedly expressed hope that Japan will send ground troops for road repairs and de-mining operations.

The Japanese delegation is scheduled to visit the headquarters in Khartoum, as well as Juba, a major city in southern Sudan.