Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda told Defense Agency chief Shigeru Ishiba on Tuesday to start preparing Self-Defense Forces (SDF) troops for their possible dispatch to Iraq for reconstruction aid there.

Fukuda told Ishiba to make as much preparation as possible as the government deliberates the timing of sending the SDF to Iraq, possibly sometime next year, according to Kyodo News.

The defense minister suggested to Fukuda that Japan might place priority on sending Ground Self-Defense Force (GSDF) members to southern Iraq, where residents are in need of water purification and supply.

The GSDF personnel are expected to be sent to southern Iraq to help in the reconstruction activities, while Air Self-Defense Force personnel will likely transport relief goods from neighboring countries to Iraq.

The Defense Agency and SDF will begin making specific plans for the dispatch, including the destination and activities, once they receive an instruction to that effect from the prime minister's office.

They will then procure the necessary equipment that will allow them to withstand the high temperatures and sandstorms in the region and make final preparations, Kyodo said.

Japan, whose law stipulates that the SDF can be sent only to non-combat zones, is now considering deploying SDF troops in a southern Iraqi city, either Nasiriya or Samawa with relative stable security situations, to help in the reconstruction efforts.

(Xinhua News Agency October 15, 2003)