Japanese defence minister resigns over S. Sudan scandal
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Japanese peacekeepers arrive at the Juba airport to participate in the
United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) in South Sudan's
capital Juba, on November 21, 2016. (Reuters/Jok Solomun Photo)
July 27, 2017 (TOKYO) – Japan’s Defence Minister, Tomomi Inada
announced on Friday that she had tendered her resignation after a
scandal broke out over a cover-up of reports on Japan’s peacekeeping
mission troops in South Sudan.
Inada, Sputnik International reported, said investigations into the
hush-up of mission logs found that Japan’s defence ministry had acted
in violation of the legal provisions regarding transparency.
“I bear responsibility as the minister of defence and I have decided
to stand down. I tendered my resignation to Japan’s Prime Minister
Shinzo Abe today. It was accepted," she said.
Inada reportedly denied having any knowledge of the documents or
ordering their cover-up regarding Japan’s troops in South Sudan.
The concealed logs reportedly described the activities of the Japan
Self-Defense Forces as part of the UN peacekeeping mission to South
Sudan in July 2016 when situations in the young nation worsened.
Their lasts disclosure, analysts argued, could have affected Tokyo’s
decision to continue the mission and give the forces an even bigger
and riskier role in the operations as the existing data was allegedly
deleted, and the troops were authorized to use weapons under the
latest reinterpretation of Japan’s Constitution.
Japan’s foreign minister, Fumio Kishida takes now over the country’s
defence ministry.
In May this year, all of the Ground Self-Defense Force (GSDF) troops
deployed for the U.N. peacekeeping mission in South Sudan returned to
Japan, ending the Asian nation’s five-year mission in the young
nation.
The withdrawal of the 350-member unit, however, took place in stages
based on a government decision announced in March.
Japan began deploying civil engineering units to South Sudan in 2012
to build roads and other infrastructure as part of the U.N. mission
there. But security has been dicey since it won independence from
Sudan in 2011.
Fighting between government and rebel forces erupted at the end of
2013. A peace deal was signed in August 2015 but renewed fighting in
Juba, where the GSDF was based, killed more than 270 people last July
and caused many to flee.
(ST)
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