UPDATE ON DARFUR PEACEKEEPING DEPLOYMENT FOR 6

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 USUN NEW YORK 001132 SIPDIS SIPDIS IO AND AF FOR FRONT OFFICE; PLEASE PASS TO SE NATSIOS E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/06/2017 TAGS: AF PGOV PREL SU UNSC KPKO MOPS SUBJECT: UPDATE ON DARFUR PEACEKEEPING DEPLOYMENT FOR 6 DECEMBER 2007 REF: A. KHARTOUM 1906 ¶B. USUN 1074 ¶C. USUN 1075 ¶D. USUN 1076 ¶E. USUN 1098 Classified By: Ambassador J. Wolcott for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: --Deployment Update: China Engineers and Bangladeshi Formed Police Unit (FPU),remain the only HSP units arriving in calendar year 2007. --TCC Update: Still no firm pledge of helicopters or transport units. --Contracting Issues: UN plans to assume Operations and Maintenance (O&M) responsibilities for African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS) camps on January 1, 2008. END SUMMARY. ¶2. (C) Deployment Update. --- HSP --- --Chinese engineers: The first tranche of 135 Chinese engineers arrived in Nyala on 24 November. Their main mission will be to construct camps required for UNAMID forces. However, work has not begun pending arrival of their equipment (REF A ). DPKO Force Generation Services (FGS) informed USUN MSC that China has contracted their own transportation for troops and equipment. As such it is uncertain exactly when the necessary equipment will arrive, although the main body of the Chinese engineers are scheduled to arrive some time in mid-December (COMMENT: USUN will continue to pursue information through DPKO and Chinese MSC counterparts in NY. USUN recommends that Department request Embassy Beijing approach the appropriate GOC entities as well. END COMMENT). --Egypt: DPKO FGS received a load list from Egypt and is now in the process of contracting airlift for the deployment. UN FGS anticipates 60-75 days to complete the bidding process. --Nigeria: Nigeria has still not provided load lists to the UN (per DPKO). --Pakistan: Pakistan Pre-Deployment Visit (PDV) will go 13-17 December. Upon conclusion Pakistan must provide load list to UN FGS. --Bangladesh Formed Police Unit: arrived in Nyala 21 Nov (per DPKO). --Bangladesh Logistic PDV began 5 December and will conclude 7 December. Bangladesh must then provide FGS with their load list. -------------- UNAMID -------------- --Egypt: Scheduled to conduct in- country reconnaissance of Darfur 8-15 December. Upon completion of the recon, final MOU negotiations are scheduled for 2-4 January 2008 (DPKO). --Nordic (Sweden and Norway) Engineers: Swedish and Norwegian Military Officers have conducted in-country reconnaissance of their Area of Operations in Darfur. UN is attempting to facilitate a meeting between Sweden, Norway and the GoS to ensure acceptance of the Nordic pledge. (COMMENT: USUN recommends Department request Embassies Stockholm and Oslo to endorse this meeting. END COMMENT). --Thailand: MOU negotiations with the UN scheduled for 11-14 Dec. USUN NEW Y 00001132 002 OF 003 -- Ethiopia concluded their in-country reconnaissance of Darfur, MOU negotiations scheduled for 16-20 December. -- Deployment Schedule: The UN would like to deploy the Egyptian and Ethiopian Battalions first, followed by the Thai battalion. The UN believes this will satisfy GoS request to send African troops first. However Thailand has indicated to DPKO at working levels that it will not deploy without GoS acceptance. (COMMENT: USUN recommends Department request Embassy Bangkok approach GOT on this issue. END COMMENT). -- HROTAT visits: At the request of the P5 Military Staff Committee (MSC),COL Ian Sinclair, Chief, Military Planning Service for DPKO briefed the MSC on 30 November 2007 on the High Ranking Operational Training and Advisory Team (HROTAT) visits to Burundi, Tanzania, Ethiopia, and Malawi. Sinclair provided an assessment of the political will, military capacity, and operational capabilities of each country as it could relate to an eventual UNAMID deployment as follows: Burundi: Has the political will and is looking to build capacity. With 29,000 soldiers, they have sufficient troop capacity, but require some donor support for equipment and training. He noted that they are good &bush fighters,8 but would have to adapt to a different style in the deserts of Darfur. His recommendation was for them to do a rotation in Somalia first, then commit to UNAMID in 2009/2010. Tanzania: Feels a political responsibility to the UNAMID mission. The president wants to see his country step up. With 26,000 soldiers, they are currently training one battalion from each of its regional brigades for a Darfur mission in ¶2008. Sinclair was very impressed with training and the high state of readiness of equipment, but expressed some concern regarding their operational capability as they have done little in the last decade. He concluded that because of their "pedigree" they should be considered for UNAMID if Mali or Burkina Faso don't meet muster. Malawi: Committed to peacekeeping and feel they can do more. With only 5,000 soldiers, Sinclair was concerned about capacity. He also questioned the ability of the army to maintain a commitment to UNAMID with upcoming elections in ¶2009. Sinclair stated the battalion he visited was "fired up", impressive, well organized and provided some good demonstrations of capabilities. He noted they lacked operational experience and felt Darfur might be a step too far, but in the end, will give them a chance if they can sort out some equipment issues. In particular, he was concerned about a mixed APC fleet. Ethiopia: Keen interest in ensuring stability in region. As the largest African army, they are disappointed that only one infantry battalion was selected for UNAMID. With 180,000 soldiers, Sinclair stated there would be no problem rotating Ethiopian troops. Sinclair noted that they were not great at organizing a visit, but once he got out and saw soldiers (and equipment) doing real things he was impressed with their capability - especially logistics. He noted they would be very effective. COL Sinclair stated to the U.S. military advisor that the U.S. support during this HROTAT was considerable and greatly appreciated. (Note: Col Sinclair is acknowledging our DATT support as well as State Representation from AF.) He noted that the U.S. seemed to be the only country taking the UNAMID deployment seriously through its training and equipping programs, and its interest in the HROTAT process. Acting UN MILAD General Five returns on 6 December from the final round of HROTAT visits. A debrief is expected to member states next week. USUN MSC will finalize a priority list of African TCCs after this meeting. ¶3. (C) TCC Update. Still no TCC commitments of helicopters or transport units. ¶4. (C) Command and Personnel: USUN MSC forwarded request to Department (REFTELs B, C, D) USUN NEW Y 00001132 003 OF 003 ¶5. (SBU) Contracting Issues. UN plans to assume O&M of 34 AMIS camps as of TOA on 1 January 2008. UN sent a Note Verbal to each AMIS TCC the week of Nov 19 asking the TCCs if they would have the ability to assume some of the O&M responsibilities. UN has yet to receive a response from TCCs. USUN MSC called AMIS TCC MilAds to elicit a response, but MilAds informed MSC that their respective governments are vetting the request. Khalilzad