Ruling parties seek MSDF antipiracy mission, preparation due next week

+

TOKYO, Jan. 22 Kyodo -
Japan's ruling parties decided Thursday to request the government to dispatch
Maritime Self-Defense Force vessels to waters off Somalia to fight against
piracy under a maritime policing provision, lawmakers said.
Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada is expected to issue an order as early as next
week for the Self-Defense Forces to make preparations for the mission,
government sources said.
Following the decision in a meeting of a project team of the Liberal Democratic
Party and its coalition partner, the New Komeito Party, policy chiefs of the
two parties are likely to file a request next Tuesday with Prime Minister Taro
Aso for the dispatch as a defensive action at sea, according to ruling
coalition sources.
The project team also agreed Thursday that a new law enabling the MSDF to
counter piracy in line with the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea should be
submitted to parliament as early as March, noting that the dispatch under the
policing provision in the Self-Defense Forces Law would only be a stopgap
measure, the lawmakers said.
Earlier the team basically approved a proposal to send the MSDF to waters off
Somalia. The parties have since endorsed the basic agreement by the task force.
The government is expected to draw up detailed plans of the MSDF's defensive
actions at sea, such as geographical boundaries and time frame of the
deployment as well as the number of vessels to be deployed, and to report to
the project team as soon as possible, the lawmakers said.
The Defense Ministry is tasked with compiling rules of engagement for the
mission in coordination with other ministries and agencies concerned, they
said. Hamada is expected to issue a dispatch order after the preparations are
completed in about a month.
He has repeatedly called for the new law because under the current provision
the MSDF is allowed to use weapons only in self-defense or to avert imminent
danger outside Japanese territorial waters.
During the mission, MSDF vessels will continuously promote the improvement of
security maintenance efforts and maritime safety in waters off Somalia and
neighboring countries as they cooperate closely with foreign forces and
international organizations which are engaging in antipiracy missions in the
area, according to the lawmakers.
The dispatch will be made under a SDF law provision that allows the SDF to act
in place of the Japan Coast Guard to protect Japanese lives and assets or to
keep law and order at sea.
As for criminal justice procedures including arrests and interrogations of
suspects as well as evidence collection, coast guard officials who would board
the MSDF ships will take responsibility and conduct such acts, the lawmakers
said.
The proposal allows the MSDF to escort Japanese-registered ships and foreign
ships with Japanese crew, passengers or shipments on board in the
pirate-infested coastal waters off Somalia, including the Gulf of Aden.
According to the Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Ministry, vessels
operated by Japanese shipping companies were victims of piracy 12 times in
2008, up two from the previous year.
The International Maritime Bureau said there were 293 piracy cases in the world
in 2008, 30 more than the previous year.
==Kyodo
2009-01-22 20:47:07