Japan orders ships back to Indian Ocean: minister

Jan 17, 2008

TOKYO (AFP) - Japan on Thursday ordered two naval ships to head back to the Indian Ocean after parliament forced through the resumption of a mission supporting the US-led "war on terror".

Defence Minister Shigeru Ishiba "ordered the deployment of Japanese naval ships for the refuelling mission," a defence ministry spokeswoman said.

The ships, which provide fuel and other support to coalition forces operating in Afghanistan, are expected to arrive in the Indian Ocean in mid-February.

The naval mission was suspended in November after the opposition won one house of parliament and vowed that officially pacifist Japan should not take part in "American wars".

With the opposition refusing to back legislation to restart the mission, the government took the rare step of using its overwhelming majority in the lower house of parliament to override the opposition-led upper house.

Immediately after the vote on Friday last week, Ishiba ordered the ships -- one providing fuel and the other escorting it -- to make preparations for departure.

Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda has argued that Japan needs to show that it is contributing to global security and that the mission would help ensure the safe supply of oil.

Japan, the world's second largest economy, has virtually no natural energy resources and imports almost all of its oil from the Middle East.

Fukuda's predecessor Shinzo Abe resigned in September in part because of his failure to extend the naval mission in the divided parliament.