By NOBUHIKO TAJIMA/ Staff Writer
April 21, 2023 at 17:41 JST
An Air Self-Defense Force transport aircraft leaves for Djibouti from Komaki Air Base in Aichi Prefecture on April 21. (Kazuhiro Nagashima)
An Air Self-Defense Force C-130 transport aircraft on a mission to evacuate Japanese nationals from conflict-ridden Sudan departed Japan on the afternoon of April 21.
The aircraft lifted off from Komaki Air Base in Aichi Prefecture to Djibouti in eastern Africa, where the SDF has a base, and will stand by there to help evacuate Japanese citizens from Sudan.
Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada said at a news conference earlier in that day that a C-2 transport aircraft and a KC-767 refueling and transport aircraft will also fly to Djibouti as soon as they are ready.
The ministry has organized combined joint task forces consisting of about 370 members to evacuate the approximately 60 Japanese citizens out of Sudan, where fighting has been intensifying between the Sudanese army and a paramilitary group.
The ministry will decide when the dispatched unit will enter Sudan after arriving in Djibouti based on the situation in Sudan.
Hamada said the ministry has considered various ways to pick up the Japanese citizens, such as transporting them by land to an airport in Sudan.
Such ground transportation has never been attempted since the Self-Defense Forces Law was revised in 2013 to make such an operation legally possible.
The ministry on April 20 dispatched an advance team of five members to Djibouti to gather information.
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