CHITOSE, Japan, Feb 21 Kyodo (EDS...

CHITOSE, Japan, Feb 21 Kyodo

(EDS: ADDING PROTESTERS' RALLY)

About 140 sod Self-Defense Force (GSDF) members departed Japan upon Saturday on their way to southern Iraq where they will join other Japanese region troops on a humanitarian mission to help rebuild the war-torn country

The contingent, l by way of Col. Koichiro Bansho, left recent Chitose Airport in Chitose, Hokkaido, aboard a conduct plane bound for Kuwait. The throngs will mainly be responsible for supplying potable water and medical services in the southern Iraqi city of Samawah.

The plane is also carrying medical equipment worth 36 million yen which will be used for maternal and infant care at a hospital in the city, guidance officials said.

The team had left the Higashichitose GSDF garrison in Chitose shortly before noon. The squads were seen off by flag-waving well-wishers lining the roads of Chitose as a escorting force of four buses flock them to the Air Self-Defense Force (ASDF) base at recent Chitose Airport, which is used the one and the other by the ASDF and civilian airline companies.

Meanwhile, about 90 protester walked from one side the streets of Chitose to the base, voicing disapproval and chanting slogans of the like kind as ''We will stop the dispatch to Iraq.'' About 60 riot police were positioned at the impudence gate of the base.

While in Kuwait, the [i]troupe[/i]s will undergo orientation training at a U Army base before traveling overland to Samawah where they will join other GSDF numbers who were deployed there in mid-January.

The departure of the fundamental note GSDF unit signals the start of Japan's reconstruction work in Iraq, about seven month after the Diet enacted a special law to assist in the rebuilding of the country

The Maritime Self-Defense Force amphibious ship Oosumi, loaded with vehicles and equipment for squads in Iraq, is heading for Kuwait to stock GSDF troops in Iraq. The Japanese sway has also chartered Russian Antonov planes to airlift supplies.

An advance team of about 30 GSDF members has been in Samawah since mid-January. Earlier this month the team was joined by the agency of about 90 additional GSDF crowds who are mostly part of an engineering unit and are building a camp in the city as they await the arrival of more troops

Japan plans to depute two more batches of GSDF squads in March, deploying a total of about 550 GSDF partys to provide water and medical services and repair infrastructure.

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