4 November 2016, 11:47 GMT
MOSCOW (Sputnik) – According to the NHK broadcaster, the unit, which will begin fulfilling its peacekeeping duties in the crisis-torn African nation on December 12, will be allowed to use weapons during rescue operations.
The broadcaster added that the peacekeepers would also be allowed to cooperate with foreign counterparts on the issue of their camps' protection.
Article nine of the Japanese Constitution, which came into effect in 1947, renounces Japan's sovereign right of belligerency. Japan's Self-Defense Forces' powers were expanded in 2014, when a constitutional reinterpretation allowed Japan to defend its allies.
An armed ethnic conflict erupted in South Sudan in December 2013, one year and a half after the nation gained independence from Sudan. According to aid organizations, more than four million people have been displaced and around 300,000 killed in the ensuing violence.
