UNAMID: PERSONNEL WILL BE KEY TO SUCCESS

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KHARTOUM 001742 SIPDIS SIPDIS SENSITIVE DEPT FOR AF/SPG, S/CRS DEPT PLS PASS USAID FOR AFR/SUDAN E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PREL KPKO SOCI AU UNSC SU SUBJECT: UNAMID: PERSONNEL WILL BE KEY TO SUCCESS ¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY: In a November 5 meeting with FieldOff, a senior United Nations Mission in the Sudan (UNMIS) officer corroborated assessments from other UNAMID officers (septel) that the main shortcoming threatening deployment of the UN-African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) is not the Sudanese Government but a dearth of qualified and experienced human resources needed immediately to lay the infrastructure groundwork for implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1769 (2007). The UN Officer hopes that the impending arrival of a Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) team will lend the necessary impetus to jump-start this process. The UN Officer, like many in the El Fasher international communities, was guarded in his assessment of Government of Sudan (GOS) cooperation with UNAMID deployment. END SUMMARY. PERSONNEL GAP NEGATES DEPLOYMENT RATE ADVANTAGE -------------- -- ¶2. (SBU) UNMIS Senior Officer opened his November 5 meeting with FieldOff by hailing the comparative advantages Darfur enjoys over South Sudan in facilitating deployment of a peacekeeping force. The UN Officer considered that the availability of accommodations and of skilled labor and manufacturing could give UNAMID deployment an edge over UNMIS deployment in the South (where deployment of the bulk of the approximately 10,000 peacekeepers took over 15 months). ¶3. (SBU) However, the UN Officer warned that deployment timelines would mean nothing if personnel being sent to the field remain in short and unqualified supply. On the military side, the UN Officer worried that incoming troops were neither properly trained nor equipped. He was similarly concerned that actual Formed Police Unit (FPU) contributions fell short of projected levels (UNSCR 1769 envisaged 19 FPUs); he said in best-case scenario, the first two FPUs (from Bangladesh and Nepal) would arrive in Darfur by mid-November and would be operational in Nyala by mid-December. The UN Officer noted that despite the readiness of the Bangladeshi FPU to deploy early, UNMIS had recommended delaying deployment until both FPUs could be sent to South Darfur simultaneously, given the recent internal violence at Kalma IDP camp. He expected that the Chinese engineering unit of the Heavy Support Package would be in place this month. ¶4. (SBU) On the civilian side, the UN Officer noted that UNMIS itself is not fully staffed (the last Secretary-General's report on UNMIS, S/2007/624, put UNMIS force strength at 97 percent - 9,402 of 9,706 deployed),which presents problems for UNAMID, as UNMIS is supporting the fledging operation from its own resources. The UN Officer hoped to move an initial wave of 100 staff into the newly-inaugurated UNAMID El Fasher headquarters, a move contingent upon arrival of necessary communications and information technology equipment. He saw as a positive sign the presence of UNAMID the Joint Special Representative, Force Commander and their respective Deputies in Sudan, but remarked that selection of a Police Commissioner and his two Deputies was still pending. Other than appointments of Director of Administration, Assistant-SYG for Mission Support, and Heads of Offices of Civil Affairs and Safety and Security, he said the remainder of Heads of Section had yet to be selected. The sooner they could be recruited and deployed, he explained, the faster they could in turn start recruiting their own staff, many of whom were expected to come from a restless yet potentially unqualified AMIS civilian pool. DPKO VISIT SEEN AS SHOT IN ARM FOR RECRUITMENT -------------- - ¶5. (SBU) The UN Officer explained that there was a "Tiger Team" comprised of staff from UN New York Headquarters currently in Khartoum to work on UNAMID recruitment, but he expressed frustration that this team was trying to do its work in the capital rather than on the ground, where his staff could better advise the hiring process. He was hopeful that the impending arrival during the week of November 12 of a DPKO team headed by A/SYG Mulet would provide the necessary impetus to expediting the recruitment process, as well as address operational issues, including procurement of an additional square kilommter of land for$UNCMID's EmFcherQHead}5qrters.QQ 2.0*QBU9&qdl|ffir{e bbgd$xfe2su0-F JmCqmlQb"Mr}rQcD9QQ*b`hxq /Zgg\v\kE0~