Japan extends refueling mission in Indian Ocean

Friday 03rd July, 02:59 PM JST

TOKYO —

Japan on Friday extended its refueling mission in the Indian Ocean for another half year beyond its scheduled expiration on July 15 under a temporary law on antiterrorism campaigns. The Cabinet endorsed a revision to the basic plan for the Maritime Self-Defense Force mission to extend until Jan. 15 the refueling mission in support of U.S.-led antiterrorism operations in and near Afghanistan. ‘‘The Defense Ministry will continue to do its best to eradicate international terrorism now that the refueling assistance activities by the MSDF were extended,’’ Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada told a news conference after the extension was approved at a Cabinet meeting. The government kept other parts of the basic plan intact, including the size of the operations and dispatch of MSDF vessels to non-combat areas such as the Indian Ocean including the Persian Gulf.

Under the revised plan, the MSDF deploys a supply ship and a destroyer to provide fuel and water to foreign naval vessels participating in U.S.-led efforts to interdict ships linked to terrorism in the region. The supply ship has provided roughly 2.67 million liters of fuel to warships from Britain, France, Germany, Pakistan and the United States on 16 occasions over three months through the end of May, according to the ministry’s Joint Staff Office. The supply ship has also been refueling MSDF destroyers involved in antipiracy operations in the Gulf of Aden off Somalia.

Kyodo