Japan to send advance military team to Sudan

TOKYO, July 25 (Reuters) - Japan is to send a fact-finding team to Sudan this weekend to prepare the way for a planned dispatch of military personnel to a United Nations mission in Khartoum, government officials said on Friday. The U.N. mission has the task of monitoring a peace agreement in Sudan following a north-south conflict that claimed two million lives. Japan, whose U.S.-drafted pacifist constitution bans it from taking part in conflicts abroad, is cautious about dispatching troops overseas. The team of 11 Japanese officials, mostly from the defence ministry and armed forces will head for Sudan via Egypt on Sunday, on a week-long trip to survey the situation in Khartoum, a defence ministry spokeswoman said. They may also visit other parts of the country, she said. Japan announced last month it would send military... [read full story]