Two Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force (MSDF) destroyers departed Saturday from their base in Kure, Hiroshima prefecture, on an anti-piracy mission off Somalia, marking Japan's first overseas policing action under the Self-Defense Forces (SDF) law.

The escort mission of the 4,650-ton Sazanami and 4,550-ton Samidare of the 8th Escort Division of the 4th Escort Flotilla will likely begin sometime in early April as the fleet's voyage to the pirate-infested Gulf of Aden takes two to three weeks.

According to the MSDF, each of the two destroyers with a total of some 400 crew members aboard, including a special boarding unit trained in the use of heavy machine guns and eight officers from the Japan Coast Guard, will carry two patrol helicopters.

The dispatch of the warships was ordered by Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada on Friday under the maritime policing action provision of the SDF Law.

Under Article 82 of the SDF Law, which governs policing action on the seas, the MSDF will protect only Japan-related vessels, including Japanese-registered ships and foreign vessels with Japanese nationals or shipments aboard.

Also on Friday, the cabinet approved a new bill "concerning punishment and measures against piracy," which will enable MSDF personnel to protect foreign vessels. After the Diet passes the new anti-piracy law, it will be used as the basis for the MSDF dispatch off Somalia.

(Xinhua News Agency March 14, 2009)