Hiroyuki Hosoda
"We welcome the unanimous approval," Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura told a press conference. Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda reiterated the sentiment.

Machimura said the Japanese government will decide on how it will be involved in the mission based on reports of an investigative team that was sent to the African country earlier this month.

Japan sent the team to determine the feasibility of taking part in a U.N. peacekeeping operation in Sudan.

At a separate press conference, Defense Agency chief Yoshinori Ono indicated the government should carefully consider the possibility of letting Self-Defense Forces troops take part in the operation.

"Japan should proactively contribute to these kinds of international activities (in general terms) but speaking of Sudan, there are many difficult problems," the agency's director general said.