UPDATE ON DARFUR PEACEKEEPING DEPLOYMENT FOR 21

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 USUN NEW YORK 001061 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/21/2017 TAGS: AF PGOV PREL SU UNC UNAUS KPKO SUBJECT: UPDATE ON DARFUR PEACEKEEPING DEPLOYMENT FOR 21 NOVEMBER 2007 REF: A. USUN 1052 ¶B. KHARTOUM 1804 ¶C. BEIJING 7175 Classified By: Ambassador J. Wolcott for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) SUMMARY. Key Points: --Deployment Update: Chinese officials informed UN Under Secretary General Guehenno that the first elements of 135 SIPDIS engineers would deploy on or about 24 November as part of the Heavy Support Package (HSP). DPKO Force Generation Services (FGS) expects that with the exception of the Bangladeshi Formed Police Unit (FPU),this will be the only unit of the HSP arriving in Calendar Year 2007. UN High Ranking Officer Technical Assessment Team (HROTAT) visits are ongoing in selected countries. --TCC Update: SYG Ban Ki-Moon told Ambassador Khalilzad that Brazil, Spain and possibly Italy were considering the request for helicopters for UNAMID. --Command and Personnel: The UN is prepared to request that the US provide a number of military officers to deploy to Darfur in support of UNAMID. --Contracting Issues: UN Integrated Operational Team (IOT) for UNAMID will meet with Sudan Programs Group (SPG) personnel 26 November to work out contracting issues. End SUMMARY ¶2. (C) Deployment Update. --- HSP --- --Chinese engineers: After a number of conflicting reports and statements emanating from Chinese officials in Beijing (REF C),New York and on the ground in Sudan, the first element of 135 Chinese engineers are scheduled to deploy on or about November 24th. This is based on statements made to USG Guehenno on 18 November in Beijing. (COMMENT: USUN recommends that Department request that Embassies Beijing and Khartoum approach the appropriate Chinese officials to confirm this information. END COMMENT). --Bangladesh Formed Police Unit: Not delayed as previously reported (REF B),scheduled to arrive in Nyala on 21 Nov (per DPKO). --Bangladesh Logistic Company deployment reportedly pushed back from December 07 to Jan 08 owing to a delay in the Pre Deployment Visit (PDV) now scheduled for November 28-30 (per DPKO). --Pakistani units: According to DPKO FGS, the Pakistanis are not being responsive to repeated DPKO requests to schedule a PDV. The longer this is put off, the longer their deployment 
will be delayed (COMMENT: Despite statements to the contrary, this delay is likely due to the current unrest. If appropriate, USUN recommends Department request Embassy Islamabad approach host nation to urge moving forward with the PDV. END COMMENT). -------------- UNAMID -------------- --Nepal and The Netherlands: currently in Darfur conducting their reconnaissance. --Egypt: Darfur reconnaissance moved up; was scheduled for December 8-13 and is now scheduled for November 28-30. --Nordic (Sweden and Norway): GoS has granted visas to Swedish and Norwegian Military Officers to conduct an in-country reconnaissance of their Area of Operations. USUN NEW Y 00001061 002 OF 002 Concurrently, UN A/SYG Mulet recently commented that the Nordic unit would ultimately not deploy due to ongoing negative comments made by President Bashir (REF B). However Sweden and Norway have supposedly agreed to have a "face-saving" meeting with the GoS that would be facilitated by the UN, although USUN is unable to confirm if and when this will happen (COMMENT: USUN recommends Department request Embassies Stockholm and Oslo approach host nations to determine the status of the deployment and of the alleged meeting with the GoS. END COMMENT). --Thailand: In a reversal from earlier statements, as reported by USUN during the November 16th SVTC, Thai MilRep Colonel Mungkalaton in New York told USUN MSC on November 21st that the Thai infantry battalion would only deploy if explicit GoS approval was granted. Earlier Mungkalaton had indicated to USUN MSC and acting UN MilAd General Five that the Thais would deploy if "told to do so" by the UN. ¶3. (C) TCC Update. During a November 19 meeting with Ambassador Khalilzad, SYG Ban Ki-Moon reported that Brazil and Spain had expressed their willingness to "consider" providing helicopters for the UN mission, while Italy had indicated that it is ready to provide "aviation support" to UNAMID (REF A). (COMMENT: USUN recommends Department provide talking points to Embassies Brasilia, Madrid and Rome to underscore the importance of providing helicopters in support of UNAMID. END COMMENT). ¶4. (C) Command and Personnel: On Tuesday 20 November USUN MSC met with military representatives from the UN Darfur Integrated Operational Team (IOT) to discuss the impending UN request for US military officers in support of UNAMID. The UN intends to request two officers per sector in support of Force Commander General Agwai's wishes. These officers, one O-4 and one O-5 per sector, will occupy Liaison Officer billets. A separate request will be made for additional US military officers to fill positions on the UNAMID staff in the logistics, operations, assessment and information departments (COMMENT: the IOTs are new planning groups in the UN. Organized with representatives from political, military, police and logistics representatives they will be assigned to specific issues or missions in order to provide an interdisciplinary approach to issues and produce results that have buy-in from their respective directorates upon completion of the task. END COMMENT). ¶5. (SBU) Contracting Issues. The Sudan Programs Group (SPG) will send their appropriate experts to New York on Monday 26 Nov to meet with their UN counterparts and USUN reps in order to discuss ongoing UN contracting problems. ¶6. (SBU) The 21 Nov P5 discussion on Sudan will be reported Septel. Khalilzad