Japan to send ground troops to assist antipiracy mission off Somalia+

TOKYO, April 23 Kyodo - Ground Self-Defense Force personnel will be dispatched to Djibouti by the end of next month to assist Japanese patrol aircraft to be based there for an antipiracy mission off Somalia, the Defense Ministry said Thursday.

About 40 members of the GSDF Central Readiness Regiment in Utsunomiya, Tochigi
Prefecture, will be sent to the Horn of Africa country as the group's first
mission abroad since its inception in March last year, defense officials said.
The regiment constitutes the main part of the Central Readiness Force, which
was formed to be dispatched as an advance team to lead the Self-Defense Forces'
overseas missions and better deal with disasters, guerrilla attacks at home and
peace-related activities abroad.
The ministry is preparing to dispatch two P-3C patrol aircraft to Djibouti to
provide patrols over the pirate-infested Gulf of Aden in support of the two
Maritime Self-Defense Force destroyers escorting Japanese-related ships in the
sea.
The ground troops will patrol around the Djibouti international airport where
the MSDF aircraft will be based for the antipiracy mission, according to the
ministry.
==Kyodo