Japanese officer to take key post in U.N. peacekeeping mission in S. Sudan

The Japanese government on Friday approved sending a senior Ground Self-Defense Force officer to serve as chief of staff of the military component of a U.N. peacekeeping mission in South Sudan, the highest-ranking post ever held by a Japanese deployed to U.N. peacekeeping operations.The officer will assume the post on May 11 at the United Nations Mission in South Sudan, or UNMISS. The appointee is a colonel with experience in peacekeeping in the Golan Heights in the Middle East and has led the GSDF counterterrorism unit, according to a source familiar with the matter.The chief of staff over…READ FULL ARTICLE