MSDF, Coast Guard eye holding joint antipiracy exercise Feb. 20

+

TOKYO, Feb. 12 Kyodo -
The Maritime Self-Defense Force and the Japan Coast Guard plan to hold a joint
antipiracy exercise off the coast of Kure, Hiroshima Prefecture, on Feb. 20,
government sources said Thursday.
The exercise will be held ahead of the planned dispatch next month of two MSDF
destroyers -- the 4,650-ton Sazanami and the 4,550-ton Samidare -- to the Gulf
of Aden off Somalia to protect Japan-linked ships from pirates.
The exercise would involve a scenario in which the destroyers, along with Coast
Guard patrol ships, would repel pirate boats that approach vessels related to
Japan, the sources said.
The joint training is being arranged because Coast Guard officers who have
judicial police authority will also be board the destroyers during the upcoming
mission to be on hand when pirates are captured so they will be handled
according to Japanese criminal laws.
The Self-Defense Forces are in the process of devising rules of engagement on
the use of weapons for the mission in consultation with the Coast Guard so that
the crew can appropriately deal with encounters with pirates while they execute
an escort mission.
Meanwhile, Japanese ruling party lawmakers touring the gulf in connection with
Tokyo's planned antipiracy operations met with Djibouti President Ismael Omar
Gelleh in the Horn of Africa country on Wednesday.
During the talks, the president offered his country's ports and other
facilities for use by Japan during the escort mission involving MSDF destroyers
and patrol aircraft, the lawmakers said.
In promising to support Japan's antipiracy mission, Gelleh said piracy poses
threats to the international community and that Tokyo's cooperation on the
matter is important, they said.
Djibouti, located just northwest of Somalia, has been host to the naval forces
of several countries that have taken part in antipiracy missions in the gulf.
Late last month, Japanese Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada directed the MSDF to
prepare for a deployment to the pirate-infested gulf linking the Indian Ocean
and the Suez Canal.
Once a dispatch order is issued, the two destroyers will be sent to begin an
escort mission off Somalia in late March at the earliest. Japan is considering
deploying several P-3C patrol aircraft as part of the mission.
The Japanese destroyers will protect Japanese-registered ships and foreign ones
with Japanese nationals or shipments on board under a maritime police action
provision of the SDF law based on which they are planned to be dispatched.
==Kyodo
2009-02-12 22:28:16