Japan, keen to demonstrate its diplomatic, economic and security role in resource-rich Africa, is in the final stages of deciding whether to send troops to southern Sudan, government officials said yesterday.

The officials said a team of about 20 officials was likely to visit Sudan early next month to conduct a feasibility study on the contentious plan.

"Whether the Self-Defense Forces (military) can be dispatched to south Sudan depends on the local security situation to be examined by the research team," a Japanese government official said on condition of anonymity.

If conditions were met, Japan was expected to send up to about two dozen military officials to join the UN Mission in Sudan, known as UNMIS, which supervises the peacekeeping operation of some 10,000 personnel in southern Sudan, he said.

Another Japanese government official said Tokyo was studying various plans including the dispatch of several hundred soldiers to southern Sudan on a non-combat mission.

"None of the plans has taken shape fully yet, but they have been discussed in some quarters," he said. "If Japan were to send hundreds of Self-Defense Forces personnel, they are likely to engage mainly in demining."

He said the United Nations had recently sounded out Japan about sending troops to take part in UN-led demining operations in southern Sudan.

"It will be a political decision on whether to send Japan's Self-Defence Forces to Sudan," the official said. "The question is 'is it OK to stay away from Africa?'"

The official said Japan would not send troops to the conflict-ridden Darfur region. "Darfur? That is outside of our scope at this stage," he said.

Japan's pacifist constitution restricts its participation in military activities overseas and forbids the use of force to settle international disputes.

Earlier this month Japan pledged to extend $200 million in assistance for Sudan in the next four years.

Tokyo is eager to take part in UN operations in Sudan in an effort to back up its long-running ambition to win a permanent seat on the UN Security Council.

Resource-poor Japan, which hosts a conference of 45 African nations next week, wants to play a higher-profile role in the resource-rich region ahead of the G8 summit on the northern island of Hokkaido in July.

As part of its effort to win the hearts and minds of Africans, Japan announced on Tuesday a plan to double annual foreign aid to Africa by 2012 despite budget constraints caused by the country's bulging public debt.

(China Daily via agencies May 23, 2008)