Japan Cabinet approves extra budget for extended Iraq mission

The Japanese cabinet approved a 9.9 billion yen (95.2 million US dollars) budget Tuesday for the extended aid mission in Iraq of Japan's Self-Defense Forces (SDF), Defense Agency Director General Yoshinori Ono said.

The extra budget from the government's reserve fund for the current year through next March 31 was approved after the cabinet on Thursday extended the SDF deployment to Iraq for a year to December 14, 2005, Ono said at a press conference.

Japan's fiscal year begins on April 1.

At a separate news conference, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda said he believes the decision to extend the deployment in areas the government has designated "non-combat" zones was "right" and the southern Iraqi city of Samawah remains the best place for that.

Nearly 600 Ground Self-Defense Force troops are based in the southern city of Samawah to provide clean water, medical advice and help supervise the reconstruction of local infrastructure in southern Iraq.

In addition, about 200 Air Self-Defense Force personnel are stationed in Kuwait to transport US soldiers, military supplies and relief goods to and from Iraq.

The mission, prior to the extension, was to expire Tuesday.

Source: Xinhua