Japan resumes refuelling mission

A Japanese warship has set off to the Indian Ocean to help US ships involved in Afghanistan, days after a law allowing the redeployment was passed.

Opposition MPs had tried to block the mission, but Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda invoked a rarely-used override power to force through the legislation.

The warship Murasame left Yokosuka naval base, south of the capital Tokyo, to meet a supply vessel, the Oumi.

The ships will provide refuelling facilities for US vessels.

Relatives of the Murasame crew and naval personnel gathered to wave the ship off.

"I want you to be proud of yourselves as Japan can now play a responsible role in the international community," the government's top spokesman, Nobutaka Machimura, told the crowd.

"Japan can again join the war on terror, an operation to build peace in the world," he said.

The two ships will arrive in the Indian Ocean in about three weeks.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7206304.stm