Japan Press Weekly

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2016 March 30 - April 5 [SDF]

Discovery of bullet in SDF camp indicates criteria not met to take part in PKO in South Sudan: JCP Inoue

Japanese Communist Party lawmaker Inoue Satoshi on March 31 at an Upper House Defense Committee meeting said that the situation in South Sudan no longer meets the five requirements including a cease-fire agreement between parties concerned to allow for the Self-Defense Force’s participation in PKO missions.

JCP member of the House of Councilors Inoue in the meeting introduced a case where a bullet found in the SDF camp in South Sudan was recently exhibited at the Ground SDF Fukuchiyama base in Kyoto, Japan.

The caption for the exhibition explains that it was December 16, 2013 when the bullet was found in the SDF camp in South Sudan. Regarding this information, the Defense Ministry said that on that day, a clash between the South Sudan government forces and the opposition forces occurred in the national capital, Juba, where the SDF is camped and that SDF personnel in the camp heard gun shots.

Inoue also pointed out that in January 2014 after a shooting incident near the SDF camp, the head of the SDF troops in South Sudan intended to withdraw from the PKO missions there. Inoue said, “The facts I presented to the meeting show the collapse of the government explanation that the situation in South Sudan remains stable, which supports the five PKO principles including a cease-fire agreement.”

Furthermore, Inoue referred to the fact that the Defense Ministry did not receive a report about the discovery of the bullet until six months later. He stressed, “When the SDF troops received a stray bullet in their camp in South Sudan, the troops’ commander did not take the incident seriously and neglected to report it to the ministry. Under such circumstances, expansion of SDF duties in PKO missions under the war legislation will put SDF personnel in danger.”

Past related articles:
> Violence at UN camp in South Sudan verifies risk of SDF members ‘killing’ and ‘being killed’ in PKO missions [February 20, 2016]
> Expansion of SDF duties with PKO will raise risk of ‘killing’ and being ‘killed’ [February 5, 2016]
> Condition no longer met for SDF to take part in PKOs in South Sudan due to collapse of ceasefire deal: JCP Inoue [September 10, 2015]