TOKYO : Japan Sending Troops

Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama’s Cabinet gives final approval today to dispatching 480 Japanese troops on a humanitarian mission to aid refugees from Rwanda at two camps in Zaire. It would mark the fourth time since the end of World War II that Japan will have sent its troops overseas. The move underscored a commitment to get involved in foreign trouble spots. The government sent three missions to Rwanda and Zaire to study conditions there before making up its mind to dispatch troops.

Although Japan gave $13 billion in support of the 1991 Gulf War, it suffered criticism for “checkbook diplomacy” when it dispatched no personnel to the region while the fighting was going on. Only after Iraq was subdued did Japan send a team of minesweepers to the Persian Gulf. It also deployed troops to U.N. peacekeeping operations in Cambodia and Mozambique.