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Japan navy ships depart for anti-piracy mission

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-03-14 14:54

TOKYO - Two Japanese navy destroyers left a port in southern Japan on Saturday to join an international anti-piracy mission off the coast of Somalia.

Kenyan police officers escort suspected pirates at the port in Mombassa, Kenya, Tuesday, March 10, 2009, after they were handed over by members of the German navy. The German navy handed over nine suspected Somali pirates to Kenyan authorities, and they will be taken to a court to face charges, officials said. [Agencies]

The five-month deployment marks the first policing action overseas for Japan's military, whose post World War II missions abroad have been largely restricted to refueling, airlifting and other humanitarian activities.

It has been controversial because opposition lawmakers say Japanese ships could be pressed into combat or protecting foreign ships in an emergency.

The two Japanese destroyers, Sazanami and Samidare, which are also carrying two SH-60K patrol helicopters and a pair of speedboats, are expected to reach Somali waters in early April. Together they carry about 400 sailors.

About 1,000 people watched from the dock and Prime Minister Taro Aso was on hand to see the ships off.

Authorities say marauding criminals in speedboats attacked more than 100 ships off Somalia's coast last year, including high-profile hijackings with multimillion-dollar ransom demands.

Japan's ships can only be deployed to protect Japanese boats - about 2,000 of them pass through waters near Somalia every year and their crews.

Ruling party members have argued the battle against piracy is more a crime-fighting operation than a military one and does not violate Japan's pacifist constitution, which limits Japan's military to defensive operations.

To allow the dispatch, Japan's Cabinet also approved a new anti-piracy bill, designed to relax restrictions on the use of arms by personnel on navy ships if engaged by pirates and allow vessels to escort foreign ships in danger.

Japan's dispatch comes as more than a dozen warships from countries including Britain, the United States, France and Germany are guarding the region.