NORWAY WON'T COMMIT TO DARFUR HEAVY PACKAGE

C O N F I D E N T I A L OSLO 000096 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/01/2017 TAGS: PREL KPKO NO SUBJECT: NORWAY WON'T COMMIT TO DARFUR HEAVY PACKAGE SUPPORT OR CHAD/CAR REF: STATE 11794 Classified By: Deputy Chief of Mission Kevin M. Johnson for reasons 1.4 b and d ¶1. (C) We delivered reftel points to Ministry of Foreign Affairs Special Advisor Anne Kjersti Froeholm on February 1. Froeholm told us that Norway would not be able to support our request for assistance with the Darfur Heavy Package and given current commitments in Afghanistan, it was very unlikely Norway would be able to lend support to peacekeeping operations in Chad or in the Central African Republic. ¶2. (C) For Darfur, Norway had planned to deploy a joint engineering battalion (comprised of 300 Norwegians and 150 Swedes) as part of the Heavy Package assuming final conditions were acceptable. We were told that the Norwegian Ministry of Defense is uncomfortable with conditions in the Darfur package, particularly involving AU vice UN control and lack of national protective support. On our request for support with a potential peacekeeping operation for Chad and/or the Central African Republic, Froeholm told us that there are simply no Norwegian police available to assist with such an operation given increased commitments in Afghanistan. WHITNEY