UPDATE ON DARFUR PEACEKEEPING DEPLOYMENT FOR 10

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 USUN NEW YORK 000026 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/10/2018 TAGS: AF PGOV PREL SU NSC UNSC KPKO MOPS SUBJECT: UPDATE ON DARFUR PEACEKEEPING DEPLOYMENT FOR 10 JANUARY 2008 Classified By: Ambassador Jackie Wolcott for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: UNAMID force generation problems continue with no TCC for helicopters or transportation units. Jordan, Norway and Sweden withdrew their offers of troops for UNAMID. DPKO rejected Pakistan's offer of an aerial reconnaissance and Gambia's offer of a sector reconnaissance company due to the inability of these forces to meet UN standards. The Government of the Sudan continues to obstruct UNAMID deployment in three key ways: 1) non-concurrence on the TCC list; 2) land issues; 3) concluding the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA). MOU negotiations are underway in New York for Egypt and Ethiopia. Major General Five, Acting UN Military Advisor, is tentatively scheduled to visit Washington January 24 to discuss U.S.-UN coordination on UNAMID. Updates on the 9 January UNAMID Security Council consultations and those relating to PRST negotiations reported (septel) END SUMMARY. ¶2. (C) Force Generation. --Helicopter Update: The UN still does not have a TCC commitment of helicopters or transport units. UKUN intends to host a donors meeting to solicit helicopters on January ¶16. DPKO will open the meeting with a summary of what the UN has done to acquire helicopters, followed by UKUN-led discussion of options for meeting the UNAMID capability shortfalls. UKUN favors breaking the helicopter capabilities into discrete components -- pilots, equipment maintenance, etc.-- with the goal of finding contributions for each element and creating viable composite units. As of January 10, USUN was the only confirmed attendee to the UKUN meeting of 60 delegations invited. Separately, Russia has proposed either selling or "dry" leasing helicopters to the UN or to a TCC in support of UNAMID. DPKO officials are concerned that the Russian proposal does not have the support of all elements of the Russian government, especially the Ministry of Defense. --TCCs dropping out. The Government of Jordan withdrew its offer to provide a multi-role logistics company after conducting an in-theater reconnaissance. DPKO rejected Pakistan's aerial reconnaissance unit due to its inability to meet mission standards. Due to Gambia's military not possessing the requisite skill to perform a reconnaissance mission DPKO also rejected the Gambian sector reconnaissance (recce) company, although Malaysia has offered a replacement unit. Although there is still no official response to the TCC list, the GoS has articulated verbally that the Nordic engineers will be rejected. Finally, the Nordic countries have officially retracted their offer for engineers in the wake of GoS refusal to allow them in. ¶3. (C) UNAMID deployment. --TCC list: The GoS still has not formally approved the TCC list (Please see septel for DPKO's assessment of the primary areas of GoS non-cooperation). The GoS continues to state that all African TCCs must be exhausted before it will allow non-African forces to participate. This impacts UNAMID deployment and capability because there are non-African elements that could be deployed immediately (the Nordic engineer unit were an example). The lack of political clarity also discourages other potential TCCs. -- Land issues: There are still land issues to be resolved, specifically at El- Geneina, where the planned camp has been deemed by the GoS to be too close to the airport. Other sites are being considered. -- SOFA approval: The GoS promised an interlocutor to negotiate the SOFA with the UN on 13 Dec 07. To date the GoS has yet to provide one, although DPKO indicates the GoS stated that an interlocutor will be appointed and prepared to start negotiations on 12 January. TCC progress: MOU negotiations are underway for Ethiopia and Egypt this week in New York. However, DPKO informed USUN MSC that the Egyptians are attempting to impose conditions on their participation, e.g.; patrols would not remain out overnight and would only patrol a prescribed distance away USUN NEW Y 00000026 002 OF 002 from the camp. Without mentioning names, UN Under Secretary General Guehenno noted this in his report to the Security Council on 9 Jan. ¶4. (C) USUN is facilitating the visit of UN Military Advisor Major General Five to Washington to explain the UN procurement process for TCCs and how the U.S. might best target bilateral support to African TCC's for UNAMID. This meeting is tentatively scheduled for 24 January, and will also include representatives from the UK, France, Canada and the Netherlands, which are also large TCC donors, primarily through the Global Peace Initiative Operations Program (GPOI). KHALILZAD