The Cabinet on Dec. 10 will extend by a year the Self-Defense Forces' mission to provide humanitarian aid in Samawah, Iraq, Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura indicated on Tuesday.

Machimura made the comments during a meeting of the Upper House Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.

The current size of the forces-up to 600 members-will be maintained beyond the current Dec. 14 deadline. But the number of troops involved in humanitarian activities, such as supplying clean water, will be decreased, while the number of troops involved in providing security will be increased.

The Koizumi administration decided to extend the mission because Washington has expressed its wish for the SDF to remain in Iraq and because Iraq's reconstruction is still ongoing.

The administration decided on the yearlong extension-instead of the six months some lawmakers wanted-because an election to be held under a new Iraqi constitution is scheduled for December 2005.

Also, a six-month extension would expire next summer just before a scheduled Tokyo metropolitan assembly election, and coalition partner New Komeito would strongly oppose another extension.

Machimura also indicated that December 2005 would be the time for Tokyo to decide on the SDF's final withdrawal from Iraq.

``Nevertheless, that does not mean that we should declare that we will withdraw at the end of next year,'' he said.

Defense Agency Director-General Yoshinori Ono told reporters Tuesday that Japan needs to discuss with Britain what will happen with security maintenance in Samawah after Dutch forces withdraw next March from the area. The Dutch have been providing security, but the British forces are overseeing security in the whole of southern Iraq.

Although the government considered increasing SDF troops in Samawah by about 50, it decided to maintain the current level due to negative reactions from the Japanese public.(IHT/Asahi: December 1,2004)