December 21, 2003, 06:45
The leader of the junior party in Japan's ruling coalition said after a visit to southern Iraq that it seemed relatively safe, a verdict that will relieve the Prime Minister ahead of the dispatch of hundreds of troops to the area.
Takenori Kanzaki, whose Buddhist-backed New Komeito party had expressed reservations about the troop dispatch, made the comments in Kuwait today after a brief trip to the Iraqi town of Samawah, where Japanese ground troops will be based next year.
"It is more peaceful than I imagined before I went," Kanzaki said in a television interview with private broadcaster Fuji Television. "I did wear a bullet-proof jacket, but the atmosphere seemed relatively peaceful."
US President George W. Bush thanked Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi for his decision to send the troops in a telephone conversation yesterday, the foreign ministry said in a statement.
Kanzaki's visit had been seen as a risk for Koizumi, whose decision to send up to 600 ground troops to the area for reconstruction and humanitarian work has been criticised by some as a violation of Japan's pacifist constitution.
Around 1400 people gathered yesterday on the northern island of Hokkaido, home to the troops who are due to be sent early next year, in the latest of a series of demonstrations against the dispatch, Kyodo news agency reported.
A less favourable verdict by Kanzaki might have intensified such opposition. Defence Minister Shigeru Ishiba, who was listening to the interview from the studio, said he was impressed with Kanzaki's decision to visit Samawah, but declined to comment on whether he was relieved that the trip had gone smoothly.
Koizumi has struggled to balance the demands of Japan's alliance with the United States with voters' concern that the military will be the target of attacks.
Two Japanese diplomats were shot dead last month and insecurity persists despite the capture of deposed Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. - Reuters
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