2017 March 8 - 14 [
POLITICS]
JCP Koike: PM Abe should admit his fault for sending SDF to South Sudan
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Prime Minister Abe Shinzo on March 10 at a press conference announced the government decision to pull out Ground Self-Defense Force troops deployed to the UN PKO mission in South Sudan.
As the reason for the government decision, PM Abe said that the SDF will complete its mission of constructing roads along with other UN peacekeeping operations by the end of May while Chief Cabinet Secretary Suga Yoshihide said that South Sudan’s worsening situation had nothing to do with the withdrawal.
Later on the same day in the Diet building, Japanese Communist Party Secretariat Head Koike Akira said to the press that the government should accept the collapse of its unconstitutional policy of dispatching the SDF to South Sudan.
Koike said that the JCP insisted on withdrawing the SDF without delay by pointing out the fact that South Sudan is virtually in a state of civil war and that this situation no longer meets the five requirements for the SDF’s participation in UN peacekeeping operations such as the conclusion of a cease-fire agreement among parties concerned.
Koike noted that Abe in his explanation neglected to mention South Sudan’s volatile situation and instead used the completion of the road construction mission as the reason for the withdrawal. Koike went on to say, “The general public are not convinced by the PM’s explanation. PM Abe should honestly admit to the failure of deploying SDF troops in South Sudan and expanding the range of the SDF’s use of arms.”
Koike pointed out that the government made a mistake of sending the SDF to the UN PKO in South Sudan and further aggravated the situation by bulldozing through the unconstitutional war laws. He said that the JCP will continue grilling the government about its misjudgment on the SDF dispatch.
Past related articles:
> Concealed SDF reports imply need for withdrawal from South Sudan [February 8, 2017]
> Gov’t should withdraw SDF from South Sudan: JCP Kasai [October 4, 2016]