Japanese special envoys to be delegated to the region

A spokesman for the Japanese government has announced that his country will send special envoys to several countries in the region, including Syria later this month in order to urge these countries to convince Iraq to collaborate with the UN inspectors.

The Japanese government secretary deputy Kusi Wino said yesterday in statements to the press in Tokyo that three parliamentarian from the ruling Liberal Democratic party in Japan will visit each of Iran, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Turkey.

The three delegates are Taro Nakayama and Masahiko Komora, who are two former Japanese foreign ministers and the Japanese deputy foreign minister Toshimitso Motiji.

A high ranking official at the Japanese foreign ministry said that Tokyo had studied the possibility of dispatching an envoy directly Iraq, but gave up this idea in order not to be understood as being "easy" on Baghdad, according to the said officials.