Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba sounded positive May 16 about dispatching the Self-Defense Forces to a U.N. peacekeeping mission in southern Sudan while denying the government is compiling a specific plan of action.

"Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda said in his policy speech in the Diet that Japan will fulfill a role as a peace-fostering nation," Ishiba said. "Based on that, we will actively consider future measures" to deal with the Sudan situation.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura and Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura have expressed their willingness to send the SDF to join the U.N. mission in Sudan.