The United Nations has asked Japan to dispatch Ground Self-Defense Force troops to the Ethiopia-Eritrea border to join a peacekeeping mission, diplomatic sources said Tuesday.
If realized, the U.N. Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) would be the second peacekeeping mission for the GSDF, after its 1996 assignment to the U.N. Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
Tokyo is currently examining the request, the sources said, adding that the situation surrounding Ethiopia and Eritrea is "far safer" than in other African conflicts, such as those involving Congo and Sierra Leone.
In June, the two eastern African countries, mediated by the Organization of African Unity, signed a peace agreement ending two years of devastating border war that claimed more than 100,000 lives.