High ranking Japanese official to visit Darfur

April 30, 2008 (TOKYO) — Japanese Senior Vice Foreign Minister Itsunori Onodera will make a five-day trip to Darfur, Sudan, from Friday, the Foreign Ministry said Wednesday.

Onodera will be the highest ranking Japanese official to visit the region, which is mired in a serious humanitarian crisis.

The Japanee responsible will hold talks with the Sudanese and UN officials in Khartoum, also he is scheduled to visit camps for internally displaced persons, the African Union-U.N. joint mission in Darfur, the Kyodo news agency reported.

In Khartoum, Onodera will urge the Sudanese government to secure an early resolution for the Darfur crisis.

Separately, Vice Foreign Minister Yasuhide Nakayama will visit Juba in southern Sudan to see the activities of the U.N. peacekeeping mission there

Nakayama also will attend the 3rd Sudan Consortium of donors in Oslo .

The United Nations has sounded out Japan about dispatching Self- Defense Forces personnel to take part in U.N. demining activities in southern Sudan, government sources said in early April.

Japan has been considering participation in the U.N. Mission in Sudan amid sensitivity due to restrictions under Japan’s pacifist Constitution.

(ST)