A panel of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party on Tuesday approved the planned dispatch of Self-Defense Forces personnel to Nepal to participate in a U.N. military observer mission, under the law to cooperate with the United Nations peacekeeping operations, party members said.</PARAGRAPH> <PARAGRAPH>The plan to be submitted for approval to the LDP's policy commission and general council will be formally adopted by the government at a Cabinet meeting March 27, making way for the first new SDF deployment overseas since the Defense Agency was upgraded to the Defense Ministry in January, according to government sources.</PARAGRAPH> <PARAGRAPH>Under the plan, six unarmed Ground Self-Defense Force members will be sent to Nepal from April 1 and stay there until March 31 next year to take part in the activities of the U.N. Political Mission in Nepal –

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UNMIN was established Jan. 23 by the U.N. Security Council after the Nepalese government and the Maoist rebels of the Communist Party of Nepal declared an end to their conflict by signing the Comprehensive Peace Agreement last November.