18 January 2004	Sunday	25 Ziqa'ad 1424

CAMP VIRGINIA, Jan 17: An advance unit of 39 Japanese ground troops arrived in Kuwait on Saturday to set the stage for humanitarian operations into Iraq, the unit's commander told reporters at this US military camp.

The unit is the second contingent from the Japanese Self-Defence Forces to arrive in Kuwait after an air defence unit, which arrived on Dec 27, but the first to be made up of ground troops.

"This is a big day for Japan," force commander Colonel Masahisa Sato said as he led the contingent, dressed in olive green uniforms, into one of dozens of huge tents which were recently erected in Camp Virginia.

"We are a humanitarian and rehabilitation contingent ... All of them are ground troops," added Colonel Sato, who declined to reveal when the bulk of the Japanese forces would arrive in Kuwait.

"We are here to coordinate and prepare for the arrival of the main body" of Japanese forces, he added.

The Japanese troops will be stationed in Camp Virginia, a US military camp in the Kuwaiti desert, some 70kms west of Kuwait City, said US military spokesman Captain Randall Baucom.

The 39 officials and soldiers arrived at Kuwait Airport aboard a commercial flight and were brought to the camp by two buses, Captain Baucom said.

An additional six airmen went to neighbouring Qatar.-AFP