Senior members of the Ground Self-Defense Force might be dispatched to the multinational peacekeeping force in Egypt under new security laws that expanded the scope of Japanese troops' activities overseas, government sources said.

A GSDF dispatch to the Multinational Force and Observers force, which is in charge of supervising the 1979 peace treaty between Egypt and Israel that demilitarized the Sinai Peninsula, would be Japan's first to an overseas peacekeeping operation not under the command of the United Nations.

Tokyo is considering sending the senior officials to the command of the MFO next year once an on-site safety inspection is conducted by the Prime Minister's Office and the Foreign and Defense ministries as early as this year, the sources said Sunday.