CHINESE SEE UNAMID "INEFFICIENCY AND INCAPACITY"

C O N F I D E N T I A L KHARTOUM 000702 SIPDIS FOR AF/SPG E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/06/2018 TAGS: KPKO PGOV PREL SU SUBJECT: CHINESE SEE UNAMID "INEFFICIENCY AND INCAPACITY" DELAYING DEPLOYMENT REF: A. KHARTOUM 471 ¶B. KHARTOUM 85 Classified By: CDA Alberto M. Fernandez, reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) CDA Fernandez welcomed Chinese Ambassador to Sudan Li Cheng Wen to Embassy chancery on May 7 to discuss Chinese perspectives on UNAMID deployment. A clearly frustrated Wen noted that the remaining Chinese engineers should have been in place in February, but UNAMID's clear "inefficiency and incapacity" means that it is May and the remainder of their unit is not quite ready to arrive. "We informed them six months ahead of time but they clearly were not ready," he noted. ¶2. (C) The Chinese have 80 pieces of heavy engineering equipment scattered between the high seas, Port Sudan, and the road to Darfur and the UN's limited capacity to track and move materiel hampers the work of the Chinese engineers. "We ask them where our equipment is and what is in each load and they cannot answer." Because of UNAMID's lack of preparation, they rely on UNMIS (the UN Mission to South Sudan in support of the CPA) for much of their logistical work, especially in Port Sudan, and both UNMIS and local-!.3Q%hDhits Darfur and many roads will be blocked. He remarked that JSR Adada had praised the quality and speed of the Chinese engin!y-Qzn. The Ambassador summed up the basic challenges confronting deployment as "transportation, camps and water," all of which he alleged to have been significantly mismanaged by DPKO and UNAMID. Both air and land transportation assets were problems. He noted that it is easy to blame an unpopular Sudanese regime for many things but the international community is less comfortable in admiting that the UN is at fault. ¶4. (C) Wen asked about US-Sudanese discussions in Rome which have elicited relatively POSITIVE media coverage in the Sudanese press (Wen is a fluent Arabic speaker). CDA Fernandez responded that these talks had been serious but many issues are still inconclusive. He noted that the USG had only yesterday condemned SAF bombing of civilian targets, "we can understand, but not agree with, why they would bomb the rebels, but bombing a school and killing children is either outright stupidity or brutality, or both." Wen agreed that the Sudanese are difficult to deal with but suggested that the rebels need to be pressured as much as the regime. CDA agreed and referred to SE Williamson's recent testimony before the Senate where he criticized the rebels, the Embassy's statement criticizing the rebel theft of a UNICEF water drill, and the Department's condemnation of rebel threats and actions against census enumerators and US criticism of rebel threats against the Chinese engineers. ¶5. (C) CDA Fernandez suggested to Wen that the Chinese might want to align their humanitarian efforts in Darfur with UN/OCHA's donor coordination. He noted that China doesn't get as much credit as it should for its many humanitarian good works in Darfur and joining the biweekly OCHA donor coordination process is one way to do so. Charge suggested that while China has every right to channel this assistance bilaterally, mostly through the HAC, the Chinese might want to ensure that they, and not the National Congress Party (NCP),are seen as helping the people of Darfur. Wen enthusiastically agreed with the OCHA idea and will follow up with OCHA head McDonough and Deputy SRSG for Humanitarian Affairs Amira Haqq. ¶6. (C) Comment: The usually stolid Ambassador Wen was much more open 9Q[|Qrray is negatively impacting their work, their ability to move and to survive in Darfur's inhospitable terrain. He was also less aggressively protective of the Khartoum regime than in past meetings although extremely laudatory of SE Williamson's outreach to the Sudanese regime in the recent talks. End comment. FERNANDEZ