UPDATE ON DARFUR PEACEKEEPING DEPLOYMENT FOR 27

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 USUN NEW YORK 001221 SIPDIS SIPDIS IO AND AF FOR FRONT OFFICE E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/26/2017 TAGS: PREL MOPS PGOV UNSC AF SU SUBJECT: UPDATE ON DARFUR PEACEKEEPING DEPLOYMENT FOR 27 DECEMBER 2007 REF: KHARTOUM 2048 Classified By: Ambassador A. Wolff for reasons: 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (U) This is an action request. Please see paragraphs 3, 6 and 7. ¶2. (C) SUMMARY: --Deployment Update: Chinese Engineers and Bangladeshi Formed Police Unit (FPU) are the only Heavy Support Package units arriving in calendar year 2007. UN DPKO expects the remainder of the HSP units to arrive by Feb 08 and plans to have the first UNAMID units in by the first quarter of 2008. --26 December Meeting with General Five (UN Acting Military Advisor) -- Troop Contributing Country (TCC) Update: Still no firm pledge of helicopters or transport units. --Transition of Authority (TOA) from the African Union to the UN will occur on 1 Jan 08. END SUMMARY. ¶3. (C) Deployment Update. --- HSP --- --Chinese engineers: The Advance copy of the latest Secretary Generals' Report on UNAMID states SIPDIS equipment for the advance party of Chinese engineers should arrive in Nyala by the end of December. According to the UN Darfur Integrated Operations Team (IOT), the Chinese will be able to begin camp construction once they are married up with their equipment. Reports from Khartoum indicate that the Chinese engineers have the required equipment, but lack orders to begin work (ref A). IOT expects the main body of Chinese engineers to arrive by the end of March. --Egypt: DPKO Force Generation Services (FGS) estimates Egypt's multi-role engineer company (335 personnel),medium transport company (150 personnel),and signals company (185 personnel) will deploy by mid February. (COMMENT: USUN recommends Department request Embassy Cairo confirm deployment date with the GOE. END COMMENT.) --Nigeria: UN DPKO plans to deploy the Nigerian level II hospital by the end of March 2008. However, per DPKO, Nigeria has still not provided load lists to the UN. Once a load list is provided it will take the UN 60-75 days to contract air for movement. (COMMENT: USUN recommends Department request Embassy Abuja contact the appropriate officials on the status of the load list. END COMMENT) --Pakistan: DPKO FGS has yet to conduct the Pakistan Pre-Deployment Visit (PDV). Upon conclusion Pakistan must provide load list to UN FGS. USUN NEW Y 00001221 002 OF 004 --Bangladesh Formed Police Unit (FPU): arrived in Nyala 21 Nov (per IOT). --Bangladesh Logistic Company: PDV concluded 7 December. Bangladesh must now provide FGS with their load list (per IOT). (COMMENT: USUN recommends Department request Embassy Dhaka contact the appropriate officials on the status of the load list. END COMMENT) -- Nepalese Formed Police Unit: will arrive in February. The equipment for the Nepalese FPU is being routed through India to Mumbai for sea transport to the Port of Sudan. According to the IOT the equipment is being held up in India. (COMMENT: USUN recommends Department request Embassy Katmandu inquire with the GOI on the status of the Nepalese FPU equipment. END COMMENT) -------------- UNAMID -------------- --Egypt: Conducted its in-country reconnaissance of Darfur 8-15 December. DPKO has scheduled Egypt to conduct MOU negotiations are 2-4 January 2008 (per DPKO). Egypt is responsible for sending a negotiation team to the New York. UN has scheduled the Egyptian PDV for 14-18 January 2008. (COMMENT: USUN recommends Department request Embassy Cairo confirm with the GOE deployment of the negotiation team. END COMMENT) --Nordic (Sweden and Norway) Engineers: The Darfur IOT reported that the Norwegian embassy in Khartoum was contacted by the GOS and told their engineer company will not be accepted. (COMMENT: USUN recommends Department request Embassy Khartoum approach Norwegian embassy to confirm that the GOS conveyed its non-acceptance to Norway. END COMMENT.) --Thailand: MOU negotiations with the UN were conducted 11-14 Dec. DPKO plans to deploy the Thai battalion March 2008 assuming GOS acceptance. Thailand has stated it will only deploy with the consent of the GOS. (COMMENT: USUN recommends Department request Embassy Bangkok approach GOT to confirm it will not/not deploy without government of Sudan approval. END COMMENT.). -- Ethiopia: Concluded their in-country reconnaissance of Darfur, and have MOU negotiations scheduled for 7-11 January 2008. Darfur IOT states Ethiopia will coordinate the UN PDVs once negotiations are complete. (COMMENT: USUN recommends Department request Embassy Addis confirm with GOE the detailing of the Ethiopian negotiating team. END COMMENT.). ¶4. (C) Meeting with General Five: On 26 December USUN Military Staff Committee met with Acting Military Advisor to the UN General Per Arne Five to discuss UNAMID deployment and TCC commitments. USUN NEW Y 00001221 003 OF 004 Five intends to have the Egyptian and Ethiopian battalions deploy first in 2008 (maybe as early as February) and have the Thai battalion follow. A 4th Senegalese battalion is then to deploy by June before the rainy season starts. Five plans on having an additional 4 infantry battalions in by late 2008 (2nd half) assuming their equipment and training needs are met. General Five expressed an interest in visiting Washington to receive a briefing on the African Contingency Operation Training and Assistant (ACOTA) program. Additionally he would like to see how the Department provides equipment for African battalions. General Five would plan to take additional officers from DPKO Military Planning and Force Generation Services. On helicopters, Five stated there has been some talk with the Russians (see para 4) and Ethiopians, but no firm offers. Five also brought up his concern about getting the former AMIS battalions up to UN standards. Five promised the MSC personnel a matrix of the next AMIS rotations hoping that by the next rotations those units could be equipped to UN standards. ¶5. (C) TCC Update: Still no TCC commitments of helicopters or transport units. Darfur IOT indicates the Russians have made two proposals to the UN for the helicopters. In the first proposal the Russians will sell their helicopters to a TCC for the TCCs use in UNAMID. The TCC would have to provide the pilots, and logistics. The second proposal is for the Russians to rent their aircraft to the UN on a "dry lease" basis. This means the UN would pay the Contingency Owned Equipment (COE) rate for the helicopters only. The UN would then have to find pilots, and their own logistics support. The UN is pursuing both options with the Russian Mission. (COMMENT: USUN recommends Department request Embassy Moscow confirm the offers. END COMMENT). ¶6. (C) Transition of Authority (TOA): SYG Deputy Chief of Staff Kim informed USUN that a "low key" TOA ceremony will occur in El Fashar on 31 December 2007. UN assumes authority of the African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS) transitioning to the UN/AU Mission in Darfur (UNAMID). Additionally, Kim informed Ambassador Wolf that Sudanese Deputy Foreign Minister Ali Karti has been invited to NY in mid-January for further discussions on GOS cooperation with UNAMID. Kim inquired whether there would be any visa issues for Karti. (Action request: USUN requests the Department check to see if there are any visa issues regarding Karti's travel to the U.S.) USUN NEW Y 00001221 004 OF 004 ¶7. (U) USUN requests the Department advise relevant embassies (Cairo, Abuja, Dhaka, Katmandu, Khartoum, Bangkok, Addis, Moscow) to follow up with host governments on the outstanding procedural issues mentioned in this cable. USUN will continue tracking deployment with DPKO and Permanent Missions in New York. Khalilzad