DARFUR/UNAMID -- INDONESIAN STABILIZATION POLICE

UNCLAS JAKARTA 001191 SENSITIVE SIPDIS DEPT FOR EAP, EAP/MTS, EAP/MLS, PM, DRL, IO, IO/UNP SECDEF FOR USDP/ISA/AP - P. IPSEN PM FOR JENNIFER HANLEY NSC FOR E.PHU E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL MARR PKO ID SU SUBJECT: DARFUR/UNAMID -- INDONESIAN STABILIZATION POLICE STILL WAITING TO DEPLOY REF: JAKARTA 864 ¶1. (U) This message is Sensitive but Unclassified -- Please handle accordingly. ¶2. (SBU) SUMMARY: The planned deployment of one Formed Police Unit of Indonesian National Police to Darfur is on hold. The unit is reportedly ready for deployment but bureaucratic issues must be addressed before the 140-strong unit can depart for Darfur. It is estimated that the unit will not arrive in Darfur until September at the earliest. END SUMMARY. ¶3. (SBU) VISA PROBLEMS SLOW CAMP CONSTRUCTION: On June 17, Fikry Cassidy, Deputy Director for International Security at the Department of Foreign Affairs (DEPLU),told poloff several hurdles needed to be overcome before the Indonesian National Police (INP) could deploy a 140-member Formed Police Unit (FPU) to Darfur. Cassidy said the government of Indonesia (GOI) and the UN were still working to agree on a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to clarify the role and responsibility of each organization participating in UNAMID. He thought the MOU would be signed soon. However, the Sudanese government had yet to issue work visas to the construction crew of the Turkish contractor hired to erect the FPU base camp in Darfur. The 10-member advance team from the Indonesian FPU had also experienced visa problems, but three were now in Darfur. The other seven were in Indonesia, with visas but awaiting the arrival of the construction crew in Darfur so that the Indonesian advance team could arrive to supervise the construction of its FPU camp. ¶4. (SBU) SUPPORT AND SUPPLY ODYSSEY: Cassidy said the Indonesian FPU was unlikely to deploy to Darfur until mid-September. The unit's equipment and supplies were currently at the Port of Sudan (located on the Red Sea),but the overland transport from Port Sudan to Darfur (approximately 2,100 miles) would take three months. Equipment and supplies and a functioning base camp had to be in place before the FPU could depart. ¶5. (SBU) LATEST IN A SERIES OF DELAYS: The INP had planned to send the first tranche of it's FPU to Darfur in October ¶2007. That plan was delayed when the African Union troops were ambushed in late September. After reviewing the security situation in the region, President Yudhoyono signed a Presidential Decree on February 6, 2008 giving permission for the FPU to deploy in March. GOI budgetary constraints then delayed the deployment to late May. HUME