UPDATE ON DARFUR PEACEKEEPING DEPLOYMENT NOVEMBER 8

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 USUN NEW YORK 000980

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/08/2017
TAGS: AF PGOV PREL SU UNC UN KPKO
SUBJECT: UPDATE ON DARFUR PEACEKEEPING DEPLOYMENT NOVEMBER 8

REF: USUN 964

Classified By: Ambassador J. Wolcott for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (C) SUMMARY: AMB Wolcott met with DPKO U/SYG Guehenno
November 8 to discuss UNAMID deployment. Guehenno reported
that Sudanese Major General had backpedaled on his promise to
meet in Addis Ababa after the UN communicated that the
meeting would be primarily technical and not an opportunity
to renegotiate UNAMID. Guehenno said he would know by noon
November 9 whether the meeting would take place.

Deployment Updates:

--Personnel: AMIS Force Commander Agwai supports contracted
US military advisors continuing in their current positions; a
shortage of UN staff personnel on the ground is hampering
progress toward Transfer of Authority (TOA);

--Force Generation: High Ranking Operational and Technical
Advisory Team (HROTAT) visits have begun;

-- DPKO has not yet identified TCCs to provide helicopters
and transportation units as required for UNAMID;

--Heavy Support Package (HSP) Deployment Update: The Chinese
engineer battalion is currently in the process of deploying
into Darfur;

--Contracting issues surrounding the Operations and
Maintenance (O&M) contract are moving towards resolution.

END SUMMARY.

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DPKO-GOS Addis Meeting
Still Not Confirmed
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2. (C) AMB Wolcott met with DPKO U/SYG Guehenno November 8 to
discuss UNAMID deployment and Guehenno's plans to meet with
Sudanese Major General Maghzoub in Addis Ababa (ref A).
Guehenno reported that the Government of Sudan (GOS) had not
yet confirmed the meeting after Guehenno had called Sudanese
General Maghzough to clarify that the meeting would be
primarily technical in nature and not an opportunity for the
GOS to renegotiate the TCC list or make changes to the
deployment timeline. Guehenno said he expected to receive a
response from the GOS regarding the meeting by early November
9 as he is scheduled to depart for Addis Ababa the afternoon
of November 9th. If the Sudanese do not confirm the meeting,
SRSG Mullet, already scheduled to be in Khartoum November
10th, will engage with the GOS in Khartoum on the need to
finalize the TCC list.

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Command and Personnel
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3. (C) AMIS Force Commander General Agwai reportedly supports
the retention of the 16 U.S. Military Observers in their
capacity as advisors. Agwai's staff still needs to generate
a formal request in order to renew the contract. Sector
Commanders have been nominated and are pending final UN
approval.

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Force generation
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4. (C) High Ranking Operational and Technical Advisory Team
(HROTAT) visits: The mission of the HROTAT is to determine
if potential TCCs meet the equipment and sustainability
requirements necessary for the UNAMID Mission. In the event
that the minimum requirements are not met, the HROTAT will
ascertain if they can achieve suitability with assistance or,
they could be removed from the TCC list and the UN and the AU
would have to go through the selection process for
replacement TCC's again.


5. (C) The first round of visits started November 1 with UN
DPKO Acting Military Advisor Major General Five traveling to
Senegal, Mauritania and Gambia. The team returns 9 November
and a briefing from the team has been scheduled for shortly
thereafter. Preliminary information indicates that
Mauritania is not capable of deploying and sustaining a full
infantry battalion. However, Mauritania may be able to
contribute a single company. Also, Gambia does not have the
capacity to deploy a recon company (NFI).


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6. (C) The second round of visits to Burundi, Tanzania Malawi
and Ethiopia is scheduled to begin on 12 November, followed
by Mali, Ghana, Burkina Faso and Cameroon from 26 November to
2 December (COMMENT: Ethiopia and Malawi have requested that
the U.S. provide equipment in support of their deployment to
Darfur. USUN MSC recommends that US Defense Attaches in
these countries be tasked to monitor the HROTAT visit and
report on outcome and potential shortfalls. END COMMENT.)

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UNAMID Shortfalls
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7. (C) The UN has not yet identified TCCs for either the
attack or utility helicopters, or the required transport
units. UN demarches have been issued to potential
contributors including Denmark and Egypt, both of which
declined to provide support. The offer of helicopters from
Jordan was turned down by DPKO because they did not meet
mission requirements for flight range or for night
capability.


8. (C) Ukrainian Pol Counselor approached USUN MSC rep on 8
Nov to acknowledge receipt of another demarche in Kiev from
both U.S. and UK concerning the provision of helicopters.
The Ukrainian Pol Counsellor stated that the Ukrainian
government was reviewing the request but that the Ministry of
Defense was adamantly against supporting the mission.

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HSP Deployment
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9. (C). The deployment of the AMIS HSP force protection
battalions from Rwanda and Nigeria was completed on October
31, with 800 personnel and 23 APC's deployed. The Nigerians
still need to deploy 13 APCs but are in the process of doing
so. The advance party of the Chinese Engineering Company for
the HSP has begun to deploy with the first of eleven flights
landing in Nyala on November 7. The first tranche of 135
engineers is scheduled to be in sector NLT November 30.

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Contracting
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10. (C) The UN is addressing the AMIS Operations &
Maintenance contract for January through March 2008. The
requested contract terms were forwarded from the USG to the
UN. Currently, the UN is attempting to translate the contract
terms into their own tender and by limiting the number of
bids they accept, they could establish their own contract
thereby obviating the need to reimburse the USG. If the UN is
unable to get their own contract established, they will
reconsider the reimbursement plan.

Khalilzad