TANZANIA: MOVING CLOSER TO COMMITTING PKO TROOPS

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 DAR ES SALAAM 001951 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS DEPT AF/RSA FOR MBITTRICK, CBECK, JSEVOLD,PORTH AF/E FOR B YODER ADDIS FOR AU MISSION LONDON, PARIS FOR AFRICA WATCHERS E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/15/2016 TAGS: PREL MOPS MARR PGOV KTIA TZ SUBJECT: TANZANIA: MOVING CLOSER TO COMMITTING PKO TROOPS TO DARFUR REF: A. DAR ES SALAAM 1946 ¶B. STATE 193696 ¶C. BECK-DELLY E-MAIL 12/12/2006 ¶D. DAR ES SALAAM 0606 Classified By: Deputy Chief of Mission, D. Purnell Delly, for reasons 1 .4(b,d) Summary -------------- ¶1. (SBU) Signs are increasing that the Government of Tanzania (GOT) is moving closer to committing troops to a peacekeeping mission in Darfur. From December 11 to 15, the Africa Contingency Operations Training and Assistance (ACOTA) team hosted a strategy conference in Dar es Salaam with key decision makers from the Tanzanian People's Defense Force (TPDF). As the conference drew to a close, the TPDF Chief of Staff indicated to the ACOTA program manager that Tanzania's military wants to be fully prepared for "a possible political decision" to deploy peacekeeping troops to Darfur. While on a fact-finding trip in Accra, Ghana, (December 11 to 13) the Tanzanian Minister of Defense indicated to ACOTA Coordinator, Chip Beck, that President Jakaya Kikwete is "committed in principle" to a deployment in Darfur once specific questions - including training and equipment for such a peacekeeping (PKO) mission - are answered. As 77 TPDF military police (MPs) prepare to depart for PKO duties in Lebanon, Tanzania appears willing to put its peacekeeping promises into action in a timely manner. End summary. Brass at ACOTA Workshop Request Sudan-based Training Model -------------- -------------- ¶2. (SBU) Twenty-seven TPDF officers, including a major general, six brigadier generals, sixteen colonels and lieutenant colonels, and the head of training for the entire TPDF, attended a five-day day ACOTA planning session in Dar es Salaam from December 11 to 15. The goal of the workshop was to guide key TPDF decision-makers to identify and outline what the Tanzanian armed forces need in order to ready troops for PKO operations. According to ACOTA Program Manager, Paul Nell, the Tanzanian participants were focused on practical plans and solutions for a peacekeeping deployment mission in Darfur. For example, when asked by Nell, what was the TPDF's preferences for training scenarios, without hesitation the leaders requested a training model that would simulate the circumstances, terrain and maps in Western Sudan. TPDF Wants to be Prepared in Advance of a Political Decision -------------- -------------- ¶3. (SBU) On the third day of the ACOTA workshop, the TPDF Chief of Staff, Lieutenant General Davies Mwamunyange, who had attended the December 11 opening ceremony, requested a separate meeting with ACOTA Program Manager, Paul Nell. Mwamunyange wanted Nell to unequivocally convey to ACOTA organizers that the TPDF is interested in making practical progress to train peacekeepers as soon as possible. "The TPDF needs to be ready for whenever a political decision might be made to deploy a peacekeeping battalion," he stressed. In the Chief of Staff's view, the TPDF leadership's principal concerns are timing and mechanisms for training, particularly training in equipment use. Mwamunyange also emphasized that the U.S., the U.K., Canada and France needed to coordinate their respective efforts on PKO support for Tanzania. (Comment: We are actively engaged here in precisely that, working particularly closely with our colleagues at the British and Canadian High Commission.) ¶4. (SBU) Mwamunyange shared his own view that the Sudanese government would welcome Tanzanian participation in peacekeeping efforts in Darfur. He explained that Tanzania has kept open lines of communication with the Sudanese leadership, implying that President Omar Al-Bashir listens to President Kikwete. He also noted that the GOT continues to DAR ES SAL 00001951 002 OF 003 maintain a good relationship with the Egyptian government which has some influence over the Janjaweed in the Darfur region. Minister of Defense Confirms High-level Interest in ACOTA -------------- -------------- ¶5. (SBU) During a visit to Accra, Ghana (Dec. 11 to 13) to observe peacekeeping facilities for the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS),Tanzania's Minister of Defense, Dr. Juma Kapuya, told Chip Beck, ACOTA Coordinator, at a December 12 breakfast meeting that President Kikwete is "clearly behind" the ACOTA discussions and ensuing preparations and training of TPDF peacekeeping forces in Dar es Salaam. Kapuya said that Kikwete sees Tanzania's engagement in PKO as a necessary engagement tool to promote democracy and "avoid future conflicts in Africa." Kapuya noted that "for some reason, the Khartoum Government likes and trusts Tanzania" and that Khartoum has signaled that it would like to see a Tanzanian battalion be part of an expanded AMIS mission (Ref C). ¶6. (SBU) Kapuya confided to Beck that the GOT is not sanguine that a viable UN mandate will emerge for Darfur, but expects and even prefers to be deployed under the existing AU mandate. The Defense Minister confirmed that while Tanzania is willing to contribute a battalion to the PKO effort, the TPDF leaders have specific questions, particularly about equipment for personnel and training on larger equipment needed for a battalion to successfully operate in Sudan. Actions Speak...TPDF MPs preparing to head for Lebanon -------------- -------------- ¶7. (SBU) These positive signals concerning Tanzania's participation in a Darfur PKO come on the heels of the GOT's rapid preparations to deploy 77 military police (MPs) to Lebanon. The Tanzanian MPs will join the UN PKO mission in Beirut to help protect the UNIFIL Mission. The MPs -73 men and 4 women- have completed training and will leave for Lebanon within the next few weeks. This mission is the first time TPDF forces have served outside of Africa in a peacekeeping operation; their mandate will be to assist in protecting the 9,000 international peacekeepers already in Lebanon. In his inspection tour of the MPs training operations on December 12, President Kikwete noted that the GOT had responded to this request from the United Nations following the July 2006 clashes between Hizbollah and Israeli forces because the global community has placed its trust in Tanzania as "a nation of serious people." Comment: Decision Will Come from the Top -------------- ¶8. (SBU) At the close of the ACOTA training, Chief of Staff Mwamunyange and the ACOTA facilitators were discussing the possibility of scheduling an initial ACOTA training within the first quarter of 2007. With this target date in mind, post will continue to work closely with MFA and the Ministry of Defense, to finalize the language for a Status of Forces Agreement to be in place by or before that time (see Ref A). ¶9. (C) There appears to be recognition within the Ministry of Defense (MOD) and TPDF that a decision to deploy a Tanzanian PKO in Darfur may be on the horizon, and come straight from the top (i.e. President Kikwete). The TPDF top brass clearly do not want to be caught short or unprepared. The high-level attendance at the December 11-15 ACOTA seminar and Tanzania's rapid preparation to deploy TPDF military police to Lebanon indicate a new and vigorous Tanzanian commitment to participate in peacekeeping operations. More importantly, we believe Chief of Defense General Waitara appears to have finally bowed to President Kikwete's will on defense issues. When we initially began pushing Tanzania more than a year ago to engage with us on peacekeeping, newly inaugurated President Kikwete indicated willingness, but DAR ES SAL 00001951 003 OF 003 General Waitara, a carry-over from the Mkapa era, resisted strongly. More recently, he resisted deployment of a U.S. Civil Affairs unit. However, in the last several weeks it has become clear that the President has imposed his will, as the TPDF has ceded decisively on PKO cooperation, deployment of a civil affairs team, and in other areas of mil-to-mil cooperation. All this bodes well for a rapidly expanding mil-to-mil relationship. RETZER