ARE THE "FRIENDS OF UNAMID" TRUE FRIENDS?

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 USUN NEW YORK 000711 SIPDIS AF FRONT OFFICE PLEASE PASS TO SE WILLIAMSON E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/07/2018 TAGS: PREL PGOV KPKO AF SU SUBJECT: ARE THE "FRIENDS OF UNAMID" TRUE FRIENDS? Classified By: Ambassador Alejandro Wolff for reasons 1.4 (b,d) ¶1. (C) This is an action request see paragraph 7. ¶2. (C) SUMMARY: The July 24th meeting of the "Friends of UNAMID" (FoU) was a follow up to the July 2nd meeting of the FoU at which UN Under Secretary General (U/SYG) of the Department of Field Support (DFS),Malcorra asked the FoU for specific deliverables in order to help facilitate the UN/AU Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) deployment. The meeting agenda focused mainly on a preliminary assessment by FoU participants of their governments, responses to (U/SYG) Malcorra requests airlift, and a brief deployment update. Most member states represented with the exception of Canada, the U.K., and Germany seemed uninterested in supporting Malcorra's request. We also learned that certain aircraft are not being allowed to land in airports in Darfur ostensibly due to the lack of capacity at those airports. END SUMMARY. ¶3. (SBU) The July 24th meeting of "The Friends of UNAMID", co-hosted by the U.S. and Canada, included representatives from France, Norway, Netherlands, Australia, Japan, Italy, Belgium, the EU, the African Union, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, the United Kingdom, and Col. Norman Atkins, LtCol Tim House, LtCol Felix Blanco who represented the UN Integrated Operations Team (IOT) on Darfur. ¶4. (C) The UK was the first member of the Friends group at the July 24th meeting to voice its ability to contribute, and the UK representative said London had identified an unspecified amount of funding to meet a portion of the request. Norway requested the UN separate police from troop support requests due to national limitations on their ability to provide support to foreign militaries. The U.S. is investigating the possibility of providing the airlift portion of the request. Germany has been in bilateral discussions with the UN to provide airlift. However the aircraft Germany wishes to use can not land in Darfur (See para 4). Canada still claims to have $40 million US dollars to support UNAMID, however Canada has not yet obligated this money to any troop/police contributing country. Most other states represented did not have many questions and remained dishearteningly silent, the Friends group agreed to provide feedback from their capitals at the next meeting, on July 31. ¶5. (C) One of the requests presented by UN Under Secretary General (U/SYG) of the Department of Field Support (DFS) Susanna Malcorra at a July 2nd Friends meeting was for airlift to transport equipment to Darfur. In response to questions from the Friends group on July 24th, the IOT representatives clarified restrictions by the Government of Sudan (GoS). The GOS will not allow IL-76 aircraft older than 20 years or carrying over 26 tons to land in Darfur because of mishaps with that specific aircraft type earlier this year. Additionally, the GoS has rejected UN requests to use AN-124s in Darfur, stating that the size of that aircraft puts too much wear and tear on their runways. When pressed, UN representatives admitted that the GoS would consider the use of AN-124s if the UN made appropriate upgrades to the airfields in Darfur. DEPLOYMENT UPDATE ¶6. (C) UN DPKO gave an update on the deployment of troops to UNAMID. DPKO told the FoU that the Chinese engineers had completed the deployment of personnel (315 engineers),but are still awaiting the arrival of their Contingency Owned Equipment (COE). The arrival of the Egyptian engineers was disrupted by President Bashir's visit to El Fasher and only half (approximately half of 315) of the contingent had arrived in Darfur. The Egyptian COE has not fully arrived and the Egyptians would not be able to complete their deployment to final destinations until all their COE arrived. Pakistani engineers have not deployed because the units engineering equipment is still at the Port of Sudan, however the Pakistani Level III hospital in Nyala is expected to be constructed by the end of September with the medical staff deploying shortly after completion. The Nigerian level II USUN NEW Y 00000711 002 OF 002 hospital in El Genania should be built by end of August. Ethiopia is expected to deploy an advance party and security element (totaling 300 personnel) to Kulbus by 10 August. ACTION REQUEST 7.(C) USUN Military Staff Committee suggests the Department consider demarching capitals of the Friends of UNAMID to encourage those countries to provide the support requested by U/SYG Malcorra. Khalilzad