UPDATE ON DARFUR PEACEKEEPING DEPLOYMENT FOR 21

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 USUN NEW YORK 000166 SIPDIS SIPDIS IO AND AF FOR FRONT OFFICE; PLEASE PASS TO SE WILLIAMSON E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/21/2018 TAGS: AF PGOV PREL SU NSC UNSC KPKO MOPS SUBJECT: UPDATE ON DARFUR PEACEKEEPING DEPLOYMENT FOR 21 FEB 2008 REF: KHARTOUM 246 Classified By: Colonel Mark Easton for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: The Darfur Integrated Operations Team (IOT) reported that the Egyptian heavy transport unit is scheduled to arrive in Darfur by March 31. The advance party of the Ethiopian infantry battalion will deploy between March 24 and April 4. In anticipation of the April 1 termination of the PA&E food provision contract, the UN Department of Field Support (DFS) has informed TCCs that beginning on March 15 each TCC will be responsible for preparing their own food. The UN is working to resolve the two remaining areas of concern with the finalized UNAMID Status of Forces Agreement, aviation movement notification requirements and visa issuance procedures. END SUMMARY. ¶2. (C) UNAMID Deployment. - Egypt: According to IOT, the heavy transport unit is scheduled to arrive in Darfur by 31 March. Additionally, the Egyptian Signals and Engineer units are scheduled to deploy NLT 13 March. Egyptian Contingency Owned Equipment (COE) reportedly is still enroute from Port of Sudan (NFI). - Ethiopia: The advance party of the Ethiopian infantry battalion will deploy between 24 March and 4 April. The main body's equipment is scheduled to arrive in Darfur 9 May. - China: Equipment for the engineer unit main body is scheduled to arrive at the Port of Sudan on 6 March. - Nigeria: Level II Hospital is scheduled to arrive at the Port of Sudan on 7 March. - Rehatted AMIS battalions now part of UNAMID are scheduled to rotate April-June. The UN's intent is that incoming units meet UN manning and equipment levels (REFTEL). However, the IOT noted that, barring immediate donor support, Rwanda will likely only be able to rotate one of its three infantry battalions at UN standards. ¶3. (C) Force Generation: - UN Force Generation Services (FGS) informed MSC that they still have no new pledges for aviation or heavy transport units. The Ethiopian pledge of four attack helicopters remains the only solid pledge of aviation support for UNAMID. ¶4. (C) Logistics: - The UN held a bidders' conference 16-22 February for companies to replace PA&E. Among the twenty-three companies that attended, five were reported to be from the U.S. - In anticipation of the 1 April termination of the PA&E food provision contract, the UN Department of Field Support (DFS) recently informed TCCs that beginning 15 March, each will be responsible for preparing their own food (NOTE: the UN will continue to provide basic foodstuffs to TCCs). Thus far, only Senegal has indicated they will have cooks. - Land for camp construction in El Fasher and El Genenia has been identified, but the GoS had not yet agreed to the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). The IOT stressed that this problem is at the national level, not the local level. ¶5. (C) UNAMID Police Component: According to DPKO, UNAMID individual police officer strength remains at 1,567, but with 365 more in process. They plan to have 2,046 officers by the end of March. DPKO cautioned that although many member states have pledged officers, actual by-name nominations have been slow. DPKO sent note verbale to PCCs requesting their timely contributions of officers, but warn of a possible slowdown in PCC deployment in a few months. Regarding Formed Police Units (FPUs),discussions are still ongoing with the Government of India to facilitate passage of the Nepalese FPU equipment. Pre-deployment visits for both Indonesian FPUs have been successfully conducted, and deployment for the USUN NEW Y 00000166 002 OF 002 first FPU should occur by the end of April. ¶6. (C) UNAMID Chief of Staff: UNAMID COS BG Houston (UK) will rotate out in June 08 after six months instead of Dec 08 as originally planned. ¶7. (C) Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA): While the SOFA has been signed, the UN is still working with the GOS to resolve two outstanding issues. First, as it now stands UNAMID must notify the GOS civilian aviation authorities about all military and civilian air movements, which the UN believes will be an overly cumbersome requirement. The UN is currently working on an addendum to the SOFA to deal with this issue. The UN is also concerned about visa issuance procedures. The GOS presently is insisting that TCCs that have a Sudanese Consulate must obtain their visas in their home country. The UN is concerned that this process will lead to significant delays. Per the UN, the Sudanese require 60-75 days to issue visas for UN personnel. KHALILZAD