MALAWI TO SEND BATTALION TO SUDAN; COMPANY TO DRC

UNCLAS LILONGWE 000573 SIPDIS STATE PASS TO AF/S, INR/AA SECSTATE FOR ACOTA E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV CIA POL MIL SUBJECT: MALAWI TO SEND BATTALION TO SUDAN; COMPANY TO DRC ¶1. Summary: General Marko Chiziko, Commander of the Malawian Defense Force (MDF),says Malawi will send an infantry battalion to the Sudan under the auspices of the United Nations. Malawi is also sending a communications company for peacekeeping in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. End Summary. ¶2. General Chiziko told PolOff in a meeting on June 27th that the MDF has been training a battalion of 780 peacekeepers for the past four months, and will send them to join the U.N. effort in the Sudan. He said he was hoping to hear any day when exactly the U.N. would want them, and expected they would leave in late August or September. He also requested assistance in transportation for the troops, as well as supplies including tanks, generators, camp beds, water purification devices, and computers. ¶3. The General also said that the MDF will send a 180-man communications company to the D.R.C., and that a U.N. delegation will be in country to assess their equipment levels from July 15 - July 25. ¶4. Comment: If the MDF does indeed commit a battalion-level force to the Sudan it will be the largest peacekeeping operation Malawi has ever undertaken. They were apparently told by the U.N. that if they wanted to be involved, they had to commit a full battalion. With both the battalion bound for Sudan and the Company headed to the DRC, it will push the total forces deployed to around 1,000, around 15% of the total MDF. GILMOUR