Asia

Japan to end 5-year peacekeeping mission in South Sudan

Associated Press
Published | Updated

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe speaks to the media at the Prime Minister's official residence in Tokyo Friday, March 10, 2017. Abe says Japan is ending its peacekeeping mission in South Sudan after 5 years, with work finished. (Junko Ozaki/Kyodo News via AP) (The Associated Press)

FILE - In this Nov. 21, 2016 file photo, members of the Japan Self-Defense Forces arrive as part of a first batch who have a broader mandate to use force at the airport in Juba as Japanese peacekeepers landed in South Sudan in the first such deployment of the country's troops overseas with those expanded powers in nearly 70 years. The Japanese government has decided to end its peacekeeping mission in South Sudan after five years. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Friday, March 10, 2017, that Japan will not renew the mission after the current rotation returns in May. The 350-person infrastructure team was focused on road construction. (AP Photo/Justin Lynch, File) (The Associated Press)

FILE - In this Nov. 21, 2016 file photo, members of the Japan Self-Defense Forces walk upon arrival as part of a first batch who have a broader mandate to use force at the airport in Juba as Japanese peacekeepers landed in South Sudan in the first such deployment of the country's troops overseas with those expanded powers in nearly 70 years. The Japanese government has decided to end its peacekeeping mission in South Sudan after five years. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Friday, March 10, 2017, that Japan will not renew the mission after the current rotation returns in May. The 350-person infrastructure team was focused on road construction. (AP Photo/Justin Lynch, File) (The Associated Press)

The Japanese government has decided to end its peacekeeping mission in South Sudan after five years.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Friday that Japan will not renew the mission after the current rotation returns in May. The 350-person infrastructure team was focused on road construction.

The team arrived in November. It was the first from Japan with an expanded mandate to use force if necessary to protect civilians and U.N. staff. The Japanese military's use of force is limited by its post-World War II constitution.